


Mizumono

by MyThoughtBubbles



Series: Indulgences [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Forced Relationship, Hatake Kakashi Has Issues, Human Kakashi, Iruka does have something down under, Iruka is a Little Shit, Kakashi has feelings, M/M, Merman Iruka, Paranormal Romance, Vaguely inspired by The Shape of Water, unconventional romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-04-21 09:36:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyThoughtBubbles/pseuds/MyThoughtBubbles
Summary: It was strikingly beautiful, made of shimmering blue-green scales and fins and tan skin in perpetual motion. Narrowed, serpentine eyes stared straight back through a curtain of swaying brown hair, highlighted by a thin scar bisecting the bridge of its nose. Lips were pulled back in a vicious snarl, exposing needle-sharp teeth and pale gums as clawed finger tips etched grooves in the glass, the skin between the digits webbed. A thick, hefty tail twisted beneath it in an agitated spiral, fins trailing through the water like kaleidoscopic ribbons, unable to stretch out fully.Kakashi blinked. “Oh shit.”Or, alternatively, the one where Kakashi works for a shady-as-fuck company that captures a merman and romance happens





	1. Amuse-Bouche

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miasen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasen/gifts).



> I said I would do it :)  
> Despite being inspired by The Shape of Water, there are only a few similarities  
> Also not beta'd, so be aware

**Mizumono (水物): "a matter of water”**

 

Kakashi paused, fingers poised over the keyboard. Reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the report on his latest cell cultures, he glanced towards the sliding doors that led to his lab, arching a silver brow at the interruption that lay out of sight.

“Oi, strap it down! Don’t damage it, get out the way!

“Hold it down, it’s shaking!”

“Shit, it’s strong!”

“Don’t touch that, just push it in!”

“Don’t lift, pull, pull!”

Ah, a new specimen. Mildly interested, Kakashi turned back to his screen, finishing the last sentences in a few keystrokes. Behind him, the shouting continued, trailing down from the elevators that were nestled in a far corner of the hallway near his lab.

Interest bled into irritation as the disturbance continued, growing stronger as a stampede of footsteps swarmed in.

Kakashi frowned.

New specimen were not rare; considering the reach of the company, they were quite ample. Enough for Kakashi to study to his heart’s content and more, regardless of where or how they were obtained. He was paid a good amount not to mind, not that he actually did.

Judging the cries of his coworkers to be an overreaction, Kakashi tuned them out, expecting the commotion to conclude quickly. It was only occasional that assets were transported through his section, mainly due to the spacious corridors and access to the loading docks. His dungeon was a solitary one, exactly what he initially requested upon taking the job.

He was firmly thrust out of his bubble of ignorance as deep, resonate thumps exploded into the air, powerful and unsettling. He looked towards the doors again, curiosity warring with apathy. He’d never heard _that_ before. What were they bringing in?

The shouts reached an abrupt crescendo, a cacophony of screams for backup overtaking the cries to be cautious.

More violent banging.

Curiosity winning, Kakashi stripped off his blue latex gloves and dumped them in the biohazard box next to his desk, keeping the white surgical mask on and adjusting it minutely. The cell biologist slid out of his chair and strode towards the doors that easily parted with his ID badge shoved against the scanner. As the doors opened, the tumult hit him with an almost physical force.

His gaze dropped, eyeing odd puddles of salty-smelling water and mud -– _river mud?_ that led past his lab and along the hall. He followed the messy trail, rounding the corner that gave way to the large transport elevators. Then he stopped, both eyebrows climbing to his hairline.

A small army of various scientists and security personnel were hauling a giant cylindrical tank into one of the elevators, spilling water and paperwork everywhere in their struggle. It was primarily made of metal, lying on its side with a wide opening that stretched from the top to the bottom, covered by Plexiglas. A tarp had been tossed over the tank, barely hiding the watery contents. The thumps came from within, painfully loud in the hallway as it shook mightily, throwing off bodies with force.

More men from the security team brushed past Kakashi, the tarp getting shoved around as they succeeded in getting most of the tank into the lift using the bars bolted to the sides as handles. Kakashi spotted a dark shape swimming inside, large and frantic as it threw its body against its prison, water leaking as it hit.

This was certainly new.

A dark-haired woman left her post beside the asset and came up to him, drenched from head to toe. Her lab coat was smudged with dirt and slushy green grime. Kakashi took a small step back, mindful of the water on the floor.

“Kakashi, what surprise to see you out of the dungeon. So, what do you think?” She indicated at the circus show with a small tilt of her head, a small smile playing on her lips.

“Kurenai.” Kakashi nodded in greeting, eyes focusing past her, drawn to the creature swimming frenetically. “What am I looking at?”

Orochimaru had never brought in anything that large or difficult to handle. What was inside?

Kurenai shook her head, hands anchoring to her hips. “Confidential. They’d cut off my tongue if I told you, but it’s rare, incredibly so. Half the staff aren’t allowed to know what it is.”

Kakashi could hazard a few guesses, but his interest was waning as the tank disappeared behind the elevator doors. The remaining crowd quickly dispersed, a couple muttering about the mess and getting paid overtime. “What’s going to happen to it?” he asked offhandedly, knowing she wasn’t going to tell him.

“No, I can’t tell you that either. As much as I would love to, I can’t.”

Of course. “Alright.” Kakashi went to return to his lab, tugging out his ID and absentmindedly making a mental note to add a few more points to his report, the tank already leaving his thoughts.

Kurenai clicked her tongue in reproach. “Not even a little bit curious? It can’t be held in the usual reservoirs, being taken straight to the Live Specimen department.”

“Not my department,” Kakashi called over his shoulder. It was likely he wouldn’t know anything about the new arrival until samples of its cells were sent down to him for analysis; what good would baseless speculations do besides distract him?

Kurenai responded but Kakashi didn’t hear her, letting the lab doors shut behind him. He wasn’t entirely unconcerned; it just wasn’t his province. He had his own cells to study, cultures to grow, and innumerable reports to type.

Inside his dungeon, Kakashi peered around his lab space, satisfaction settling in. The equipment housed in his section were heavy, expensive, state-of-the-art toys that he’d gotten through the blood and sweat of his labor. He knew very well his research could be used to harm rather than heal, but that came with the territory, and part of that agreement was turning a blind eye to anything an individual with a strong moral compass would object. Though, Kakashi preferred keeping his eyes open and seeing; he saw, and he worked.

Besides, his domain was dull in comparison to the other departments housed in the building. His concern was solely the samplings of cells sent down by whichever branched needed them to be examined. He received peculiar cells at times, unable to place them in the animal or plant phyla. Nevertheless, he identified the organelles that he could, reported their molecular structures, gave the closest approximation to what it might be, and sent them back.

Seldom did he acquire tissues that stumped him; those had been ancient, _incredibly_ so, to the extent he was incapable of creating a plausible explanation for where they came from, or how they had survived several geological periods spanning millions of years. Those moments were cherished, a sweet recompense for willful acceptance.

Sitting down in his chair, Kakashi skimmed over his report critically, adding footnotes here and there.

 

Kakashi lifted his head away from the slide under his electron microscope, hearing familiar shouting and banging coming down the hall. He lightly pushed himself away from his desk, the chair smoothly rolling him to the side. He reached towards the centrifuge resting on the table to his left and fiddled with the controls. Was this a new catch, or the same one?

Incredulous, he froze as the doors to his lab slid open, revealing a blocky, reinforced tank being wheeled in. Some of the biologists from Live Specimen were directing the operators of the transportation dolly, ordering the tank to be set towards the back of the room, in the space he used infrequently. Kurenai was among them, a clipboard in her hand.

Kakashi ran his tongue over his teeth, the gesture hidden by the mask. He waited.

Kurenai then whirled around, met his gaze and shrugged as she tapped the clipboard. “Sorry Kakashi, orders from the head.”

Kakashi considered his words. “That’s a large sample,” he intoned, no traces of irritation in his voice. He stared at the tank, the thumps echoing strongly in the room. “I’m going to need a bigger microscope.”

“Ha, ha. The specimen has proven...difficult to work with.” Kurenai ran a hand through her hair, peering back at the creature in the tank. “We’re not entirely sure what to do with it quite yet.”

“And it’s been relegated to my department?”

“Yes, your department of one,” Kurenai snorted, sauntering over to him. “No, this is for safe-keeping. No samples for you, yet.”

“Safe-keeping,” Kakashi repeated.

She nodded once, a glare of light hitting her name tag. “It is imperative we keep any information about him secret. We isolated him in our sector, but with how integrated we are, there could be leaks. Lucky you, having the most available space and being the most antisocial of us all.”

 _Him_. The specimen was a male. Carefully slotting away the tidbit of data, Kakashi sighed, resigning to his fate. At least he didn’t have to care for it.

Kurenai patted him on the shoulder, the gesture void of sympathy. “That’s the spirit!” Springing her attention back to the crew of people loitering around Kakashi’s work space like invasive cockroaches, she ordered them out. They exited quickly, leaving Kakashi with the sense they were glad to be rid of _him_.

How foreboding.

Kakashi’s eyes slid over the tank, narrowed and apprehensive. This structure was reminiscent of a fish tank, rectangular and made of thick glass, taking up a large portion of Kakashi’s extra room. The water was grey and murky, cloudy under harsh lights, hiding the creature when the tarp did not. The fierce banging continued, remaining steady and determined even as the room quieted.

He briefly wondered how damaged the specimen would become if it didn’t stop. Somewhat tempted to peek under the tarp, Kakashi dismissed the desire. It wasn’t his problem, and the less he knew, the better.

 

The wind stung as it whipped at the exposed skin of his cheeks, turning pale skin to bright pink. Grateful for the mask he wore, Kakashi hunched slightly, pulling the collar of his coat up higher, towards his ears.

He eyed the people bustling past him, absorbed in their own thoughts as they rushed to work, heedless of their surroundings. Hundreds of them, a vast ocean of shifting bodies and shapes that coalesced and broke apart each second, devoid of any meaning or pattern. He never tried to blend in, merely observing the mosaic of life around him, forever apart.

They stared at him often; the mask and scarred eye didn’t help deter looks, but Kakashi never minded. They were wholly unimportant.

Catching the eyes of a casually dressed, long-haired man who seemed in a rush, Kakashi watched him for a millisecond longer than normal;those whites were really white. The man quickly vanished into the crowd, swallowed whole and dissolved, indistinguishable. 

Kakashi walked on. In front of him passed another man with sickly yellow skin, sclera dark enough to warrant a diagnosis of jaundice. Or was that a burst vein? Kakashi deftly avoided him. On and on he looked, gaze drawn to tedious insignificance.

Deciding the wriggling bodies surrounding him were distracting, Kakashi stuck a hand into his messenger pack, fingers finding the spine of a worn orange book. He pulled it out, flicked it open with a twist of his wrist and began to read, still able to navigate the sea around him with ease. His neck prickled with the awareness of being watched. Kakashi’s lip curled and he partly wished he’d have brought the raunchier version.

The roar of the city faded away as he read, his senses tuned only to keep him out of harm’s way. Right as he reached his favorite part, he stopped walking and snapped it shut. Hiding the book away with a silent promise to continue on his break, he swiftly entered a small shop on his left. Above the door, a little bell jingled.

Greeting the shop owner with a half-raised hand, Kakashi made his way to the back of the store to select his lunch for the day; another bowl of ramen, his usual. Grabbing his bowl and a drink, Kakashi turned on his heel and headed to the front of the shop to pay. Bored, he scanned the shop as he waited in line, catching a small display stand that advertised brand new ear plugs, guaranteed to block out all kinds of noises.

Kakashi thought about the creature in tank. 

It hadn’t stopped banging the walls the entire time Kakashi had been there, in a surprising yet infuriating resiliency. The cell biologist had done his best to ignore the racket, managing to get some work done even as the repetitive hammering started to drill into his head with a palpable force. On impulse, he snagged a pair and placed them on the check-out counter next to his food. 

He wondered what was hidden beneath the tarp.

 

The ID scanner beeped its acceptance, glowing green as the doors slid open. 

Kakashi stepped inside of the darkened lab, eyes drawn immediately to a strange glow emitting from the tank. He frowned. Was the tank filled with angry bioluminescent creatures? He absently registered the lack of banging, focusing next on the undisturbed nature of his space. He’d expected to see traces of other people having been inside his lab, implying the creature had been fed; however, the dungeon was untouched, leading Kakashi to believe it wouldn’t be fed on a day-to day basis, a scenario much more pleasing.

He flicked the lights on, at once regretting the move as the thumping started instantly, just a strong as before. Water spilled from the top of the tank, running down the sides and into a small puddle at the base. Kakashi’s frown deepened and his nostrils flared. Peering at the water hazard, Kakashi made a mental note to avoid going near it.

Tucking his lunch away in a cooler meant for samples, Kakashi booted his computer and sat down, the commotion to his back. He could faintly feel the strength of the creature through the vibrations of the floor and his desk. No matter, he’d worked through worse.

Remembering his decision to buy the ear plugs, the cell biologist opened the package and popped them into his ears, satisfied at the silence. Back to his computer, he loaded his email and began to type.

 

A few straight hours of being lost in his work, Kakashi broke for lunch.

Rolling his shoulders in a stretch, he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a kink forming. He knew his posture was atrocious; old habits died hard. Kakashi tugged out the ear plugs, surprised when quiet, feebles thumps took the place of utter silence. He spun in his chair, staring at the tank with a calculating look.

A part of him was impressed with the persistence of the specimen, arguably an admirable quality, but the futility of its struggle dampened any sympathy. Maybe it was hungry. But what was it? What creature was incapable of learning that the glass was not penetrable, continuously beating itself on its surface? Or did it understand its situation and rebelled in the only way it could? 

Unintelligent or tenacious.

The temptation to glimpse underneath the tarp rose sharply and Kakashi’s fingers twitched with an aborted move. Instead, he reached for his cellphone and exited the lab, eyeing the tank as he left. Out in the hallway, he pressed the keys to a familiar number and put the phone to his ear, listening to the jingle that signaled a connection to the Live Specimen sector. A click and the music ceased.

“Yes?”

“What exactly am I bunking with?”

Kakashi could hear the smile in Itachi’s voice. “I’m genuinely surprised you haven’t looked yet. You might as well, before it’s vivisected and dissected for parts. The live version is far more appealing than the dead one.”

Kakashi didn’t ask again. “Will it be fed?”

Itachi typed something, the strikes on his keyboard loud and tinny. “Doesn’t need to. It survives on very little sustenance.”

“No sustenance?”

“Water is fine.”

Kakashi frowned, skeptical. To his knowledge, no marine animal existed that survived solely on water; Itachi had to be wrong. “Hm,” he said, tone noncommittal.

“Follow your curiosity and see; no one cares if you do. The dungeon swallows all secrets.”

A silver brow ticked up. Annoyed at Itachi’s evasiveness, Kakashi decided not to look out of spite. “When is the vivisection scheduled?”

“You’ll have your space back soon enough. Now, I have a meeting to go to about a scheduled vivisection. Goodbye.”

Kakashi ended the call right as Itachi finished speaking, standing motionless as his mind whirled with hypotheses and postulations, springing wildly from idea to idea. Faintly, he could still hear the banging. He grimaced.

Stepping back into the lab, Kakashi inspected the tank, zoning in on the tantalizing sections the tarp failed to cover. This was disrupting his life more than he cared to admit. He then sighed, accepting another difficult day with grace. “You may as well stop,” he advised aloud, moving to set his phone down. “There’s no point.”

The noise ceased abruptly.

Kakashi stilled, phone wavering inches above the table.

It had heard him. Something inside the tank had listened and _understood_ him. The thing inside was _sentient_.

“What the fuck.”

His phone clattered carelessly onto the table. Striding up to the tank as his heart beat a strange rhythm, Kakashi grasped the tarp and yanked it off, watching as the entirety of the watery prison was exposed. 

It was strikingly beautiful, made of shimmering blue-green scales and fins and tan skin in perpetual motion. Narrowed, serpentine eyes stared straight back through a curtain of swaying brown hair, highlighted by a thin scar bisecting the bridge of its nose. Lips were pulled back in a vicious snarl, exposing needle-sharp teeth and pale gums as clawed finger tips etched grooves in the glass, the skin between the digits webbed. Black gashes around its neck opened and closed like slitted mouths. A thick, hefty tail twisted beneath it in an agitated spiral, fins trailing through the water like kaleidoscopic ribbons, unable to stretch out fully.

Kakashi blinked. He took a step back, mind struggling to piece together what it was looking at. It wasn’t possible, but he was seeing the contrary. “Oh shit.”

The merman hissed, bearing more teeth as it slapped its palm against the glass.


	2. Relevés

His fork scraped loudly against the plate, scooping up the last of his noodles.

Encircled by the harsh yellow light of his ceiling lamp, Kakashi sat at his kitchen table, eating in silence. He listened to the low, incessant buzzing of the lamp and watched the severe shadows it cast around the room as it flickered off and on sporadically. His chair creaked, the only one at the table and the only one needed.

If he sought to, he could pick up the droning sound of someone’s TV, cars honking on the road below, a couple arguing, a child shrieking. The world outside his walls pulsed with noise and life, a constant drum beat of energy that never slept and never ceased, every sound feeding into a background murmur that was indifferently dismissed, dormant until he searched once more.

Attuned to cloying reticence that hung around him, Kakashi glanced up from his dinner and eyed his home critically, taking in his spartan furniture and the lack of homey decorations. To another person, his apartment would appear bare and desolate, a husk of what a home should be; to Kakashi, it was practical and clean. No errant noises permeated from his walls to mingle with the neighbor’s.

Maybe he should get a dog. 

Hunger somewhat abated, Kakashi set the fork down on the plate and reached for the glass of water to his right. He didn’t pick it up, fingertips merely running along the rim of the glass. He watched as a bead of water condensed, fat and heavy, rolling down the side to spread on the tabletop and soak into the wood finish of the table.

Kakashi thought of the creature -the  _ merman _ \- spilling water in the lab.

After he had seen it, he’d thrown the tarp back on and buried himself in his work with fervor, the thumps louder than before. 

That had been days ago.

The cell biologist took a small sip, ice clinking musically. He mused about what he should do, caught between two discordant choices that pestered him freely. On one hand, he wanted to keep ignoring it, feign he never saw what was underneath; on the other, he wanted to pry it apart and figure out how it was real, to dig its secrets from its flesh, one piece at a time. Ultimately, he thought it best to keep away.

No one from LS had paid it a visit; no one from any department had gone down to see it, giving validity to Kurenai’s claims of secrecy. Kakashi had checked the ID logs and found no night visits, just his regular work hours. 

It was abandoned.

The last two days, the thumps had quieted down, petering into utter silence and creating a strange atmosphere that set Kakashi on edge. He honestly wasn’t entirely sure it was alive.

Kakashi pushed out his chair and stood, grabbing his plate. He gave it a quick rinse in the sink and squashed the take-out box into the trash, forcing it down to fit on top of several other foam boxes. He’d take out the garbage tomorrow morning.

Switching the kitchen light off, Kakashi blinked as his eyes adjusted, easily making his way to his bedroom, the layout simple in his tiny apartment. Bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen; perfectly suited to his needs. He adroitly washed up and headed to bed, hearing the pitter-patter of rain beginning to fall outside his window as he settled down. He waited for sleep to take him.

  


ID in hand, Kakashi paused before stepping through the open doors of the darkened lab, eyes widening imperceptibly. The tarp had slipped off, leaving the tank in full view. 

An odd aura of viridian light emanated from the creature, faint but steady, ethereal in the murky water. Kakashi noted it was stronger towards the merman’s lower half and compared it to the mystical quality of the aurora borealis, absently wondering if it was radioactive. 

The merman’s back was to him, letting Kakashi study a limp row of black-tipped spines climbing down its vertebrae, thin fins connecting the appendages. He twitched _ -asleep?  _ allaying Kakashi’s insecurities about its life. It lived, but it didn’t look healthy. Kakashi observed the dull colors that replaced the once vivid blue-greens, noticing the sickly pallor its skin adopted, and how listless its hair appeared. In addition, the water was repulsive; algae grew in abundance, clouding the water and obscuring most of the creature. It was a stark difference to the last time Kakashi saw it. 

Not dead, but dying.

Feeling voyeuristic the longer he stared, Kakashi flipped the light switch and entered. The merman startled awake, the spines on its back popping out in a clear defensive reflex. Its head swiveled around, brown eyes cautious before they spotted Kakashi and slitted. It raised its clawed hands, slapping at the barrier between them.  _ Thump. _

Recalling it understood him before, Kakashi put away his lunch and booted his computer out of habit before edging near the tank. His nose wrinkled beneath his mask; it smelled foul.

They watched each other, Kakashi barely blinking. “Can you understand me?

The merman didn’t respond, choosing instead to glare and hiss, swimming in tight, swirling circles. Its tail breached the surface, flicking water droplets around the lab.

Kakashi eyed the drops with distaste. “Stop that,” he ordered sharply. He watched impassively as it settled down after a moment of hesitation, maintaining its angry gaze. Kakashi was pleased at the show of obedience and its level of comprehension.

Inching closer, the cell biologist gleamed what he could of its body, noting large discolorations around the base of its palms, classifying them as bruises. He inspected the slender, pale-green fins that sprouted from the outer edge of the merman’s forearms, increasing in length until they ended right above its elbows. The merman had no ears, but small fin-like structures that seamlessly grew from his skin and were mostly hidden by its hair; they matched his tail’s colors. Satisfied he wasn’t hallucinating, Kakashi took a step back. It watched him with eerie intelligence, tracking his every move.

“Can you speak?”

It watched him intensely before slowly rising to the top of the tank, it’s head breaking through the water’s surface. “Let me go,” it demanded.

Kakashi hummed, mildly surprised it could speak so clearly. Instead of a lilting, seductive timbre, or an unpleasant, ear-splitting screech, the merman’s voice was purely male and perfectly human. He’d expected something closer to the mythological siren, luring their prey to their deaths with their songs. “I can’t do that,” he replied arily.

“Let me go, please,” it begged, looking miserable as aggression was wiped away. Its brown eyes were wide open, beseeching as it placed its palms on the glass, webbed fingers outstretched. “You can’t keep me here, let me go!”

Kakashi’s lips thinned beneath his mask. He preferred its anger over its cries and lamented making it speak.

“I will perish, please!”

The cell biologist said nothing.

With a heart-wrenching gasp, the merman plunged under the water, throwing more over the sides. It curled up in a small ball at the base of the tank, all scales and protrusive spines.

  


On the third day, Kakashi tapped the glass with a pen. The merman continued to stay coiled up at the bottom of his tank, unresponsive. Kakashi tried talking to it, but he refused to engage, shriveling into a smaller ball.

After a while, he left it alone.

Now aware of the secret, Kakashi hadn’t bothered replacing the tarp, capitulating on the urge to periodically check to see if it moved. 

The water grew vile, fully convincing Kakashi that the upper departments truly didn’t care about it anymore, having moved onto a more receptive creature or entirely forgetting about him. They had dumped it in his dungeon, after all. It might as well be his.

  


Lunch was a different flavor of ramen, carefully selected from a series of identical bowls on display; he picked the same drink for consistency’s sake. 

Expecting the day to begin just like the last few, Kakashi strode into the lab, tucking away his ID as he made a beeline for the cooler, mind running through the different reports and samples that were due. He took a step and froze, head gradually turning to look at the tank.

The merman was gone.

The top edges of the tank had been left jagged and sharp, carved up as while something clawed its way out. A decent amount of the water, algae included, had been relocated to the lab’s floor, rising an inch high and reaching Kakashi’s workstation. A small smattering of emerald scales trailed away from the tank, winking in the light.

Kakashi stared at the disaster for a moment.

Jaw clenched, he put his food away and turned his computer on, first checking the cables to make sure he wouldn’t electrocute himself. With measured breaths, he swiftly snapped on a pair of blue latex gloves, adjusting his mask as the smell of rotten water seeped in.

The cell biologist followed the path of scales, finding the creature curled up in the furthest corner of his lab, unconscious. For a beat, Kakashi thought it had died, but the slow rise and fall of its chest gave it away.

_ Shit. _ He could get by with ignoring it, but not letting it  _ die. _ He had to put it back, quickly.

Snatching the forgotten tarp, Kakashi laid it down next to the merman’s body, spreading it out along its length. He fought the appetence to keep the merman out for examination, fingers craving to take small pieces of the fins, skin, hair, whatever he could cut. He abstained, adopting a clinical briskness to his actions and checking for any injuries it may have sustained. Perhaps he would indulge later, when it wasn’t dying; any sample he biopsied would be a poor representation of the specimen overall, considering its current health. It was distastefully skinny, ribs exposed as it wasted away.

Cautiously, Kakashi set a hand on what he assumed the merman’s waist to be, tucking it underneath its pelvic fins where human skin melded flawlessly into scales, and placed another hand on its shoulder. The flesh beneath his palms stuck to the gloves, not entirely dry. Out of the water and up close, he could see that the scales were a blend of gemlike greens and blues, sparkling as light refracted from their surfaces. He gave a hard push. The body rolled easily, oddly light due to its deteriorating state. Kakashi theorized that the merman would weight closer to two hundred or three hundred pounds at peak health, all solid muscle. What did it eat? He didn’t buy Itachi’s claims, not with how starved it appeared. 

Kakashi wiped his forehead with the back of his gloved hand, assessing how to proceed. Shifting to move its weighty tail and careful not to tear the delicate fins at the end, Kakashi gathered all appendages onto the tarp, noting the flexibility of the limb was similar to a snake’s. Unfurled, the creature would stand taller than him by a few feet due to the added length from its tail. Its upper body was leaner than his own, which Kakashi once more attributed to the lack of proper subsistence.

Fixing his stance, Kakashi grasped the end of the tarp and dragged the merman back towards the tank with little trouble, preparing to dump it in. He then paused, eyes falling on the dirty water. He wasn’t cruel enough to leave the creature to fester in that anymore than it already had.

Grasping the merman under its arms and beneath the middle of its tail, Kakashi examined the creature’s profile as he lifted him off the floor. Ignoring the facial fins where its ears would be and the tail, Kakashi could trick himself into thinking it was a perfectly attractive human. A slender visage, closed eyes with long eyelashes, parted lips revealing dulled teeth - _ retractable? _ and the deep scar across his nose that humanized him further. Its head fell back and freed its hair, allowing Kakashi to peer at the closed slits on its neck that he knew to be gills. He speculated it must be able to revert from extracting oxygen from water to inhaling it; its respiratory system would be a marvel to pick apart.

It gave a wheezing breath and Kakashi promptly dumped it into the tank, receiving a few scrapes along his arms for his troubles, ruining his lab coat. Looking into the enclosure, he saw there was barely enough water to it to swim in. Cursing, Kakashi marched over to the large utility sinks that were primarily for rinsing off equipment. Brewing silently, Kakashi filled bucket after bucket with water, pouring it over the still-unconscious merman, only stopping once the level matched the previous amount. 

Onto the next problem.

Kakashi set about rigging up a system to clean the water, scrapping together some equipment he never used. He was no engineer by any means, but a filtration system proved easy enough to create. He stuck tubing into the tank and let the jury-rigged machine work, feeling accomplished as the water slowly cleared, bubbling as it was oxygenated. On impulse, he dropped in a container’s worth of salt.

Next.

Mop in hand, Kakashi spent a good two hours scrubbing the floors of his lab space, ire building with each swipe and rinse, nose stinging with the reek of chemicals. The cell biologist fought with the logic of calling in environmental services to clean up, the strong aversion for other people in his lab neatly winning the battle. 

Picking up a couple of the glittering scales as recompense, Kakashi analyzed one, placing it in the center of his palm. The texture was similar to a fish’s scales, smooth and slippery. Fingering the razor-sharp edge, Kakashi noted the colors shifting, a miniature ocean of green and blue in his hand. Intrigued, he stuck them in a small screw cap container and tucked it in his desk, wanting to study them later, once he was finished dealing with this mishap.

Feat accomplished, he threw away his soggy shoes and pants, strapping on ugly white lab scrubs and slippers. His personal lab coat was discarded with regret, the sleeves torn and dotted with blood. Having no extra, Kakashi stayed in his simple pale grey t-shirt, meticulously sanitizing and bandaging the cuts on his arms.

A headache blossomed from the strain his jaw was under, souring Kakashi’s mood further. Completely finished setting the lab right, he sat down at his desk and immediately began to type and scribble notes, aware of how far behind he was. Everything had been knocked off schedule; he would need to rush the first report and delay on the others, having had no chance to study the samples chilling in the cooler.

A quiet, chittering noise drew his attention after a while and Kakashi’s molars ground into each other. Reigning in his anger into something cold, Kakashi relaxed his jaw and turned, placing a pencil behind his right ear. 

The merman rose lethargically from the bottom of the tank and glanced around, hair and fins swaying with each movement. It turned towards him.

Kakashi met the merman’s blinking eyes directly. “If you do that again, I will clip your fins,” he warned calmly.

The merman immediately unveiled its teeth at him, fins stretching out in a threatening display.

Kakashi raised a silver brow and leaned back, forcing a nonchalant facade. “Do you want me to hurt you?”

It paused, head tilting, seemingly taken aback by the question.

“Because I will,” Kakashi continued, deadpan.

With a shove of its tail, the merman shot to the surface of the water, breaking through. Webbed hands grasped the top of its tank, unaffected by the sharp edges. “Let me go!”

“I have neither the means to do so, nor the inclination,” he replied coolly.

The merman’s tail swatted the water viciously. “You humans are all the same,” it spat. “Cruel, avaricious beings.”

Kakashi shrugged. “You’re not wrong.”

“I have done nothing to you, and yet you would cause me harm.”

“Only if you disobey,” Kakashi clarified, squashing a childish urge to point out what he considered to be the merman’s indiscretions. “It’s fair reasoning.”

“Why keep me here, trapped in a box?”

“It’s not personal.”

“Why not let me go, then? Your troubles would cease.”

At his limit, Kakashi was done with the back and forth between them. “I will be frank. I don’t own you. I can’t set you free. You’re stuck here, and you may as well get used to it.”

The merman’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “And if I refuse?”

“You’ll only make things worse for yourself,” Kakashi enounced.

  


Kakashi sighed, his body still protesting the unusual labor he put it through. He was sore and vaguely paranoid he still smelled like the rotting water, unable to wash himself with bleach as he had the lab floor. His lips tightened into a thin line under his mask. He didn’t expect it to happen again; he wouldn’t  _ allow  _ it to happen again.

Kakashi considered himself to be a pragmatic individual, not overtly stubborn or yielding, simply dictated by reason. The merman was proving to be everything  _ but _ reasonable, consistently falling into being  _ unreasonable _ and dragging Kakashi along. 

Passing through the junk food isles, a bowl of ramen in his hand, Kakashi walked up to the checkout counter and was stuck behind two chatty customers. One of them eyed him and whispered to her blond friend, both turning to peer at him. Disinterested, Kakashi let his eyes roam the store for a distraction, facing away from them. 

His distraction came in the form of a shiny red apple. Studying the crates of fresh fruit, Kakashi’s mind whirred. To bring an animal to heed, one should feed it.

He paid, a couple of apples sitting next to his take-out.

  


“Tell me your name.”

“Names are powerful, binding things,” the merman responded evasively, swimming in slow circles. He speared through the water with ease, using his tail to push him along. The tank wasn’t wide enough for it, forcing him to duck to avoid running into its finned end. The spines on his back stood up slightly, giving Kakashi the impression of a shark’s dorsal fin cutting through the ocean’s surface, a universal warning.

Kakashi offered his own, sitting low in his chair, body turned halfway to the creature. “My name is Kakashi.”

The merman stilled, looking at him with disdain. “I will not play along.”

Kakashi inclined his head a degree. “Or we could socialize like adults. Heaven forbid we become friendly.”

“With one who threatens me?”

“Might as well, seeing as we’ll be spending some time together.”

“Through no fault of my own.”

“Nor mine,” Kakashi shot back tepidly.

The merman flicked his tail, sinking back into the water until it reached his chin. It’s brown hair floated to and fro, covering it’s facial fins. He appeared young, close to Kakashi’s age. “Strike with one hand, soothe with the other; you speak with words hidden beneath your words. Full of deception.”

The cell biologist didn’t argue, silent for a long while. “I see. I will put the tarp back and let you be.” He stood, poised to grab the black plastic.

“Wait!” the merman jerked, fretting. “Don’t.”

Kakashi paused.  _ He didn’t like the tarp.  _ He toyed with the information, the beginnings of a sly smile teasing his lips. Then he relented, dropping the tarp. See, he was nice.

It watched him, eyes narrowing.

  


“I would like to thank you for helping me the other day.”

Kakashi set down a coffee mug, sliding his ID into his lab coat’s pocket. He gazed at the merman who’s upper body rested over the edge of the tank, skin glistening wetly. It looked vastly healthier than before, muscles filling out, fins darkening in color; Kakashi hadn’t discovered the cause quite yet. 

“What prompted that?” he asked, genuinely curious. This was a marked change in behavior.

The merman tapped its nails against the glass. “I’m not ingracious,” it replied politely.

“No need to thank me.”

“I will regardless.”  _ Stubborn. _

Slotting his food away, Kakashi walked up to the tank, comfortable with getting close. Despite appearing deadly, the merman was surprisingly docile. “Why the attitude change?”

Brown eyes ringed with lightly pebbled skin blinked, the pupils slitted as usual. “Revaluation of my options.”

“ _ Options.”  _ Kakashi rolled the word in his mouth, amused. What options?

“Would I be correct in assuming that if I  _ disobey _ ,” he threw Kakashi’s words back at him, a brown eyebrow rising to match the scientist’s, “I would be sent back?”

Kakashi assumed he meant back upstairs, to Kurenai and Itachi’s department. He had no control over that, even if he lowered himself enough to complain to Orochimaru. “Yes.”

“Then you must see my reasoning. Either I make nice with the human who doesn’t hurt me, or I resist and am subjected to the humans who  _ do  _ hurt me.” He grimaced. “The lesser of two evils.”

Kakashi nodded slowly in agreement; it was the only logical decision. “Smart choice.” Feeling as if there had been a major breakthrough in his research, Kakashi sat down and booted the computer. He didn’t smile, but he was pleased, extremely so. Unusually good-humored, he slipped on a pair of gloves and prepared a few slides and petri dishes, all the while aware that the merman was watching him intently.

Soon, the creature began to hum in the background and Kakashi faltered, the tune disturbing his mood in a way he couldn’t explain. It pulled at his attention warmly, gently coaxing him to turn around and draw closer.

Perhaps the comparison to a siren was apt.

  


Kakashi rephrased his question. “Do you have a name?”

“Not one you can pronounce.” The merman fiddled with his forearm fins, stretching out the flesh along the palm of his hand.

Kakashi twirled his fork, stabbing a few roasted vegetables. “Humor me.”

It was annoyed with him, watching with judging eyes. Opening its mouth, the merman let out a series of clicks and squeals, impossible to imitate and closer to dolphin whistles. “See?”

Kakashi grinned. The cell biologist set his plate down, scooting his chair towards the tank and leaning forward. “In that case, I will call you Iruka. It’s fitting.”

Tentatively, the creature mouthed the name, sounding it out with hard consonants. “Irrrukkkaa. If you must,” he capitulated.

Eager to test it, Kakashi grabbed an apple from the new trio he’d purchased, waiting for the right opportunity. He carefully cut out a small slice. “Iruka, would you like to try an apple?”

Iruka looked on curiously, inspecting the slice Kakashi procured. He didn’t move as Kakashi came closer, fruit in hand.

Breath tight in his chest and heart kicking up a quick beat, Kakashi ignored the slight tremble of his fingers, standing to feed Iruka personally and enjoying the literal, ‘eating out of his hand’. Iruka’s tail gave a powerful thrust to meet his hand, nostrils flaring as he sniffed warily.

Faster than he thought possible, Iruka’s clawed hand darted out of the water and cinched around his wrist, pressure hard enough to crush bone to dust. Iruka blinked, brown eyes darkening as his pupils widened, focus sliding from the fruit to Kakashi’s face in a smooth line.

Kakashi instantly stilled. Oh fuck, he’d let his guard down. Shit!

Kakashi braced his free hand against the tank and pushed, but couldn’t pull away, jaw tightening and arm flexing as he fought quietly, unwilling to show his alarm or demand to be freed.

“Think me a pet?” Iruka asked casually, his tone amused. There was a darker edge to him that wasn’t apparent before, sending a shiver of warning down Kakashi’s spine. Iruka was a  _ predator _ . Iruka drew Kakashi’s hand to his mouth, needle-sharp teeth lengthening into a terrifying smile.

Keeping his slitted eyes locked on Kakashi’s, Iruka’s teeth skimmed Kakashi’s knuckles, passing over them to bite into the apple slice with freakish ease. As he chewed, he examined Kakashi’s hand with interest, forcibly opening each digit from the fist Kakashi clenched shut, prodding at his fingernails with clawed fingers. 

Kakashi  _ knew _ Iruka was letting him feel powerless, making his point loud and clear.

Iruka suddenly let go and Kakashi stumbled back, rubbing his sore wrist. He opened his mouth, ready to say something,  _ anything, _ but he couldn’t, frowning in confusion. The air in his lungs refused to flow, becoming heavy in his chest. Kakashi blanched and choked, reaching for his throat. He couldn’t breathe! He yanked off his mask, desperate.

Iruka picked the skin of the apple from his teeth, ignoring Kakashi’s dry gasps as he flicked it away disinterestedly. “Shall I tell you a secret?,” he whispered, conspiratorial. “The threats get boring after a while.”

Kakashi’s vision became spotty, darkening around the edges as hypoxia set in. Iruka smiled at him, a cold, humorless gesture. Immediately, sweet oxygen seeped into Kakashi’s throat and he inhaled painfully, grabbing his chair for support as his legs threatened to collapse, vision clearing.

“I could boil the water that runs in your body. I could drain it. I could drown you. I’ve contemplated killing you in too many ways to count,” Iruka said, his voice dreadfully bored, “but where’s the fun in that?”

He swam along the perimeter of the tank, stretching his tail. “Apple tastes awful, I don’t like it.” Plunging down and settling at the bottom of the tank, Iruka picked at the scales of his tail, plucking out old ones and smoothing out the healthy ones.

Astonished, Kakashi dropped into the chair, still rubbing his throat. He studied the grooming merman, mind stuttering as it strived to do something to even the score, but no, the dynamic had change drastically. Iruka had fooled him into thinking he was docious, and then bent him over backwards with that perception, leaving him to ruminate the possibility of his own death and suffer the humiliation of being so very wrong.

But Iruka hadn’t killed him, despite possessing the means to do so. Why?

Kakashi’s heart gave a bizarre thump, his lips twitching. Rather than disturb him, this game intrigued him much much more.

He made a mental note to avoid getting too close again.


	3. Rôti

Having revealed his true nature, Iruka was livelier, actively pressing Kakashi for information and for entertainment. He spent his days swimming in slow spirals, tail purposefully flicking water out of the tank to draw Kakashi’s attention.

“What is this place? Why am I here?”

At first, Kakashi refused to reply out of misplaced affront over his bruised ego, but he yielded as Iruka’s prodding grew more insistent, knowing the merman had no other way to pass the time. Additionally, he wasn’t childish enough to resent the creature for beings itself. He’d rather have a sly merman than a simpering one. 

In Iruka’s defense, he did goad him into talking.

“Sound Institute for Regenerative Medicine. SIRM,” Kakashi answered, indicating to the company logo stuck high on the wall, the stainless steel shining brightly under the lab’s lights. “And you’re a specimen, presumably to be studied and analyzed for whatever qualities you possess that Orochimaru has deemed worthy of research.”

“Captured against my will for malicious intentions. Rather suspicious for humans to do that, isn’t it?” Iruka inquired conversationally. 

Kakashi lifted a shoulder in acquiescence. “A perfect place to broaden your horizons. Little oversight, and you’re left to your own devices,” he remarked, eyes falling on his equipment before looking back at the tiny protozoa under his microscope. He could hear the waves of water lapping as Iruka moved around. “Tell me why a mythological creature is concerned with humanitarian ethics?”

“Mythological implying nonexistent.”

“Implying inexplicability. Myths are born from the incomprehensible, stories created to explain away what we didn’t understand.” Kakashi changed the magnification, focusing on the transparent entrails of the cell and those he had dyed. “Fragments of truths are hidden in myths. What truths birthed you?”

“You’re studying me?” Iruka’s inflection changed, becoming suspicious.

Kakashi spun around, needing to see his face. Iruka had ceased swimming, resting on the rim of his tank, directly across from Kakashi. His eyes had darkened, pupils slitted. “Not me. I work with dead specimen, specifically cells,” he pointed out. “Not my department.”

“Hmph,” Iruka grunted, appearing somewhat placated. He dove underwater, spiraling rapidly.

Kakashi watched him, mesmerized by the fluid movement. The topic change was not lost on him. “Where did they find you?” Iruka had mentioned being able to hear him under the water, though he couldn’t respond.

Iruka rose out, throwing his hair back, stretching his fins. “I lived in a cave grotto off some beach; I forget what you humans call it. I lived with a few more of my kind, traveling in a small group. The ocean was always warm and welcoming, full of life and food,” he trailed off, wistful.

Kakashi picked out the small details, filing them away for later dissection. “How did Orochimaru’s men trap you?”

Iruka shrugged as he bobbed, the expression entirely human. “I can’t say for certain, but it was unexpected. They were there one day, and now I’m here.”

Kakashi’s eyes narrowed slightly. Iruka was hiding the truth, prevaricating. He strategized to broach the subject again, changing subjects as Iruka had before. “How do you procreate?” 

In the countless hours he’d spent studying Iruka over the course of his stay in the dungeon, Kakashi had seen no signs of external genitalia. Hell, he didn’t even know if Iruka could shit. His strongest supposition was a hidden cloaca, used for intestinal, urinary, and reproductive means. Though, Iruka was a male and likely had a type of extendable organ safely tucked away.

Iruka’s tail ceased its slow swishing and the merman’s eyebrows climbed high on his forehead. “Forward, aren’t you?”

“Inquisitive,” Kakashi corrected, brushing off a sliver of embarrassment. “Strictly for my own edification.”

“Your edification?” The merman repeated, amusement dancing behind his eyes. “There should remain some mysteries to my being,” he said sweetly.

A challenge, then. Kakashi raked his eyes down Iruka’s tail. “Out of propriety? Decorum among your species? Or adoption of human customs?”

Iruka pursed his lips. “Would you reveal your weakness to your captor?”

“I didn’t capture you.”

“You are my warden, the two go hand-in-hand.”

“They are not mutually exclusive in this setting.”

Iruka smirked. “Alright. If you reveal yours, I’ll reveal mine.”

Kakashi blinked, lips twitching into a smile. Iruka was bluffing. “Are you looking to compare? By all means, let’s.” He stood, hands reaching for his waistline, unbuttoning and playing with his zipper.

Surprisingly, the merman’s eyes widened and he glanced away quickly. “Not forward, inelegant.”

Kakashi studied the other carefully, satisfied at having gotten a new reaction. “You are flustered. Curious.” He buttoned his pants, more intrigued than ever. What other human-centric traits did Iruka possess? 

“We share many customs,” Iruka responded snippily, running clawed fingers through his hair, styling it to the side. “But we are clearly more evolved in some regards.”

“You know more about my biology than I do yours. Polyamorous or monogamous?”

Sighing, Iruka leaned down, chin resting on the edge of the tank. “Fine. We find a mate and are bound for life. And you?”

“Mainly monogamous, though there are those who enjoy a bit more excitement. Viviparous or oviparous?”

“Viviparous.”

“We have live births as well. Single or multiple?”

“Single, rarely multiple.”

“Do multiple births endanger the female?”

“Hm. That’s where your kind is unevolved. Unnecessary barriers.” Iruka snickered, tail curling above his head. 

Kakashi frowned, eyebrows furrowing as he dissected Iruka’s words, piecing together his insinuation. Ah. It made sense. Though his knowledge of marine biology was shoddy, he knew of a few sea creatures that exhibited the ability to switch genders in difficult situations; wrasses came to mind. If Iruka’s species mated for life and only had one birth each gestation, and taking into account the impossibility of his existence, they were likely endangered. They would have to be hermaphroditic to survive.

Letting the information stew in the back of his head, Kakashi sought more. He pulled off his gloves and tossed them into the trash. He rolled his chair close to the tank, just out of reach. “What do you eat?”

“What have you seen me eat?” Iruka countered playfully. 

Kakashi tilted his head a degree. “It’s rude to answer a question with a question.”

“It’s rude to taunt with meat and keep it hidden.” Iruka’s gaze focused past him.

The cell biologist paused for a second. It was difficult to tell when Iruka was being purposefully duplicitous and when he was revealing facets of his abilities. the merman was an outright trickster; a trickster, with a keen nose. Scooting over to the fridge, Kakashi procured his take-out box and came back. He uncovered it, revealing a few choice cuts of cooked salmon and steamed rice. With his bare hand, he picked out a piece and held it up.

Iruka’s tail danced interestedly as his gaze zeroed in on the meat, a shark scenting its prey. “I won’t bite,” he said, giving Kakashi a coy smile. “Not you, anyway.”

Against his better judgement, Kakashi stood and held the salmon out as he had the apple. He waited, body tense.

This time, Iruka took the piece from him, clawed fingers careful against his human ones. The merman ate it whole, eyes closing and tongue coming out to lick his lips.

Kakashi exhaled slowly, ridiculously pleased. “Would you?”

“Are you asking if I eat humans?” Iruka’s eyes opened, snake-like pupils on Kakashi. The pebbled skin around his eyes reminded Kakashi of a raccoon.

“Not if, when.”

Iruka looked gratified. “When they fall from their ships and into my hands, seeking life yet meeting death.”

Kakashi hummed pensively. “An aquatic Grim Reaper. Did you bite anyone here?”

“Once. I don’t take kindly to being poked and prodded.” Iruka’s face darkened as he re-lived a memory, fins flaring in agitation.

Wanting to keep the dialogue going, Kakashi selected another slice and handed it to Iruka, feeling his heart jump as the merman happily took it once more. “What did they lose?”

“Finger. Two of them,” Iruka muttered, chewing the salmon. He waved a webbed hand in a vague gesture. “I gave them back.”

Kakashi wondered who was walking around in LS missing two fingers. The image was vastly entertaining. Choosing the last piece, Kakashi didn’t hand it over. “Have you come to accept your captured fate?”

“Accept.” Iruka’s eyes slid from the delicacy to Kakashi, expression insulted.

“Tolerate, then,” Kakashi swiftly amended.

“I wouldn’t make it far if I tried to escape,” Iruka stated bluntly, leaning over the tank’s rim and meeting Kakashi’s gaze headon. “I predict I would reach the top floors before I would begin to struggle. I don’t require constant hydration, but this building houses multiple floors and insufficient water to tear it apart.” He tapped his claws on the glass. “It’s a matter of time, even with the amount of humans that would get in the way.”

Kakashi reflected on Iruka’s previous escape attempt, preparing to counter the merman’s claim. Before he offered his rebuttal, he froze. Considering what he knew now of the merman, how much of that had been orchestrated? Iruka had crawled to the corner of the room, not towards the sliding doors. Iruka’s health had bounced back exponentially since then, unexplained by the simple change in water, which led Kakashi to believe that Iruka could operate his body to an extreme extent. The scenario and subsequent actions had been as pitiful as possible, and if Kakashi had been any other person, he might’ve helped the poor merman escape.

The manipulative little shit. 

Kakashi grinned, giving Iruka his well-earned prize.

  


Pressing the furthest button to get to his floor, Kakashi whistled lowly. He held a box of assorted meats in one hand, bought on a whim to see which ones suited the merman’s tastes. He’d found his mind constantly straying from his work and wandering over to Iruka, wanting to learn more about him and his body. He hadn’t forgotten about the scales he’d collected, eager to test them as soon as he had the time.

He could begrudgingly admit that the merman made for good company, even as they both took turns picking each other apart.

The elevator doors dinged open and Kakashi stepped out, reaching for his ID as he walked down the corridor. A sudden burst of shouting shot a wicked sense of deja vu through him and Kakashi jogged to his lab, immediately stopped by a security guard from the upper floors. Behind him, a crew of men were leaving his lab. 

Kakashi tongued one of his canines, animosity rising in the back of his throat at the thought of so many people infesting his space and touching his equipment. No doubt they were there for Iruka, destroying any rapport they may have been building. Wryly, he thought of how much fun Iruka would be having, surrounded by humans that weren’t too friendly. The merman already had a tenuous hold on his own matching enmity for Kakashi’s co-workers.

Orders sparked from the radio on his chest and the security guard ran off, leaving Kakashi unattended. Kakashi glanced at the men darting out of the lab, noticing that most were wounded and soaked with water. Kurenai was nowhere in sight. Apprehension bubbling in his gut, Kakashi slipped in.

The lab was a war zone; his equipment had been battered around and drenched in water, rendered useless. Bright splotches of red stood stark against the white of the floor and ceilings, mixing into pink.

The spine-tingling crackle of a taser snatched Kakashi’s attention and he twisted, seeking the source. His lips parted in a silent gasp as he found it.

The tank had been obliterated, shards of glass and metal peppering the room like shrapnel. Iruka was face down in a shallow puddle of water and blood, the gills on his neck opening and closing uselessly. He was moaning in pain, red blood seeping steadily from a wound on his back that sickeningly tore through the delicate structure of his fins. Metal cuffs had been slapped on his wrists and his tail flopped feebly, injured and heavy out of the water. 

Standing above him was a familiar man with long black hair, holding a long stun baton. Orochimaru lifted the baton and jabbed it into Iruka’s side, the merman’s body convulsing violently upon contact. He cried out in shrill whistles.

Kakashi swallowed heavily, his heart beating in queer, forceful thumps. “A little excessive,” he said weakly, at a loss for words.

Orochimaru turned to look at him and smiled coldly. “Ah, Kakashi. Hardly. If you knew what it was capable of, you’d never want to be near it. I’m surprised it hasn’t attacked you yet, the mouthy little bastard.” Another zap and more pitchy squeals.

“I’m careful.” Kakashi said, treading dangerous ground. His eyes didn’t dare leave Iruka’s injured form.

“Good.” A threat hovered behind Orochimaru’s curt response.

Iruka grunted as Orochimaru moved the baton, allowing him to breathe. His hands scrabbled for purchase on the tiled floor, peppering the ground with messy red handprints. Getting purchase, he lifted his torso off the ground, arms trembling and head rising to glare at them through the curtain of hair across his face. Blood dripped thickly from his mouth and chin, spraying out as he hissed, bearing bloodied teeth. Iruka’s facial fins extended in warning, a fearsome display that didn’t faze Orochimaru.

Their eyes met and Kakashi’s hands fisted at his sides, his veneer threatening to break. Iruka’s pupils were blown wide and his warm brown irises were replaced by glowing green, completely foreign to Kakashi.

“Calm down, fishy.” Orochimaru tutted, jabbing the baton at Iruka, stopping before it touched him. Iruka drew back reflexively, hissing again. 

Orochimaru sneered, holding off the back-up team. “Scared? You should be used to it by now.” He stabbed the rod into the wounded flesh of Iruka’s back, holding it steady. Iruka howled and Kakashi winced, gritting his teeth as Iruka went limp. Orochimaru pulled back and waved a hand forward.

Orochimaru’s men grabbed the helpless, weakened form and tossed it into a cylindrical tank that had been prepared for the merman. Inside, Iruka regained his faculties and began to roar, banging the walls to no avail.

“Somehow, tranquilizers don’t work on it.” Orochimaru rested the stun baton on his shoulder, placing a hand on his hip. The rod dripped blood onto his pale shirt. “It’s a pity we must treat it this way, but we have no means of communicating what we need from it. Perhaps its longevity may be derived from its intrinsic defenses compensating for a lack of sentience. No more intelligent than a mindless sea sponge.” He reached out and patted Kakashi’s shoulder, passing by him to touch the glass of the new tank as it was dragged away. “Go home Kakashi, take the day off. I’ll have your lab returned to normal by tomorrow.”

He chose this job, he knew the game they played. 

“Why don’t I do that?” he agreed tonelessly, slowly turning to leave the room. As before, he watched as Iruka disappeared behind the elevator doors.

  


Kakashi stepped into his lab, the ID scanner greeting him with a cheerful beep.

Swiveling around, he was not surprised to see the lab back in its original orientation; all of his equipment had been replaced with brand-new models, the floors had been cleaned, ceiling tiles replaced. He never brought personal effects, so there was nothing to mourn. Kakashi frowned, eyes bloodshot and strained with insomnolence.

Iruka’s tank was gone.

Dropping his lunch on his workstation, Kakashi’s eyes bore into the space where Iruka’s tank used to be and he slouched on the table behind him. His fingers tapped a quick staccato beat on the metal, speeding up the longer he looked.

There was a hollow in the atmosphere of the lab, deafening in its silence. It pressed into him, insistent.

He broke and sighed, fingers digging into his eyes. He had developed an affinity for Iruka, enjoying the merman’s company as the days grew into weeks. Yesterday had brought into focus the alarming extent of his affection. He had come to regard Iruka as strangely powerful and enthralling being; having seen him on the floor, vulnerable and tortured, was eating at him in ways he didn’t think possible. It was viscerally  _ wrong. _

The cell biologist had been startled by the force of his feelings towards the merman, wanting to step in and stop Orochimaru from hurting Iruka. That wasn’t good. Was it merely an exaggeration of mercy? He’d seen worse, but it’d never affected him as strongly.

And now the merman was missing and Kakashi didn’t know what was happening to him.

Kakashi grimaced deeply as he ruminated. Two equally unpleasant choices loomed ahead, each battling for his approval. He could feign indifference and carry on with his work, a decision he already knew would fail, or he could attempt to find out, further feeding into his budding obsession. He cursed colorfully.

Kakashi dug his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing Itachi’s number. The other answered on the second ring, swifty cutting off the music.

“Yes?”

Kakashi picked his words with caution. “Orochimaru brought his crew of men down here,” he began flippantly.

“I did hear there was a bit of a commotion,” Itachi agreed.

“The lab was wrecked.”

“An unfortunate byproduct, but I assume it has been set right. The creature has been returned to Live Specimen to undergo a battery of tests. You should be glad to have the dungeon to yourself again.”

“Will you be leading the testing?”

“Yes, alongside Tsunade and her new disciple.” He paused, voices rising in the background. “It’s almost time. By now you know what it is.”

Kakashi hesitated, lips pressed in a thin line. Tsunade was head of the Dissection department; she sent samples of tissues down to Kakashi daily. He recalled Itachi mentioning a scheduled vivisection -- was that today? His hand protested the force of his grip on the phone and Kakashi eased back minutely. “Is the vivisection today?” he asked, voice steadily monotone.

Itachi laughed. “Eager, aren’t you? I don’t blame you. The secrets its cells could hold...”

Kakashi waited, jaw working hard enough to induce a headache.

“And no, not today. We’ve devised a few new tests to gauge intelligence, and that will be our primary focus.”

Kakashi closed his eyes. “Is it intelligent?”

“Unknown. X-rays on its body were also inconclusive. We were unable to conduct brain scans, meaning we don’t know if it’s capable of higher thinking, or just a reactionary animal.”

“What is the criterion for its cognitive abilities?”

“We have our parameters,” Itachi answered obliquely. Someone called his name and Kakashi heard the other stand, distracted. “What? Is it here?”

Kakashi opened his mouth to interrupt but stopped cold. Loud, mournful howls poured from the phone’s speaker, blocking Itachi’s voice. They immediately changed frequency, becoming pain-filled screeches that hurt Kakashi’s ears. His heart beat oddly, set off balance as his listened to Iruka cry out. He swallowed dryly, having had his fill the day before.

Itachi returned to the phone, an edge of displeasure to his words. “Apologies, the specimen has arrived. It’s been putting up a fight, inviting forceful intervention. Non-compliant.”

Kakashi couldn’t keep listening. “Let me know when you have something for me,” he said by way of a goodbye.

“Will do,” Itachi responded cordially, ending the call.

The cell biologist slid into his chair and rested the palm of his hand against his mouth, pushing his mask askew. It would only be cognitive tests, and painful though they may be, they were survivable. Iruka would be alright. He held his secrets this long, and he would continue to do so. Kakashi’s ran his tongue over the edges of his teeth, mind endeavoring to rationalize the turmoil roiling inside of him. 

He was sufficiently troubled.

The more he rationalized, the clearer it was; Iruka was his friend. He had grown to care for him and was thus feeling agitated at his treatment.

Friend. The notion was foreign, like an ill-fitting suit; he never connected with the concept. Kurenai and Itachi were not friends, merely acquaintances that were a step above strangers. Yet here he was, up in arms about something that he wouldn’t have flinched at a month ago. How things had changed.

Attempting to regain some modicum of his routine, Kakashi put his lunch away and switched his computer on.

He typed on autopilot for hours, mind a million miles away. Lines of words ran past his eyes, unseen yet comprehensible. He set up new cultures to make up for the ones destroyed, labeling carefully. He pipetted and sliced, creating slides for his microscope. It was a battle to keep his focus, thoughts immediately drawn back to Iruka. The strength of his concern was...unnatural. 

Leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, Kakashi’s leg began to bounce up and down impatiently. He checked the time and realized it was well past the lunch hour. Half of his meal included things he wanted Iruka to try.

His food went untouched. He wasn’t hungry.

  


It was days before Iruka was returned.

Calmly pressing his ID to the scanner, Kakashi strode into the lab, gearing up for another long, solitary day. Iruka had been missing for a week; a week of Kakashi waiting for him to be brought back, constantly peering over his shoulder as if the merman would break the laws of physics and appear. Productivity had been low.

Eyes drawn to the new structure in his lab, he stopped abruptly. Relief gripped him with incredible force, easing tension from his shoulders and replacing it with something lighter. Dumping his lunch and belongings on his desk haphazardly, Kakashi proceeded to the tank, eyes solely on the familiar merman inside.

The replacement tank was wider than it was taller, limiting Iruka’s ability to swim around. He was face-up and floating listlessly, moving as if drugged. Spotting Kakashi, Iruka mustered a small smile, his nose wrinkling. He lifted a hand, the skin around the metal cuff dark, almost black, as if burned. It dropped heavily with a splash, rocking the water.

Studying the changes with unease, Kakashi leaned over the tank and rested his hands on the edge, the rim coming to the bottom part of his ribs. “What happened?” he said quietly. He looked the merman all over, noting each missing scale and healing knick.

“I am a bit...temperamental,” Iruka said vaguely, looking exhausted. His voice was tired, nothing like the powerful cries he gave before.

Cautiously, Kakashi reached out and touched one of the metal cuffs. He hissed, withdrawing quickly. It was hot, burning hot. How could Iruka stand it?”

Iruka watched him lazily. “It seems that someone has done their reading.”

“The cuffs hurt you?”

“Iron. Burns the flesh, saps my strength, et cetera. Any more and my flesh would rot and fall away. You should be relieved. I’m as weak as you are.”

Kakashi raised a brow. “No. It’s distasteful.”

Iruka blinked at him, surprise registering.

“You’re moving rigidly. Were you injected with a tranquilizer?”

Iruka’s gaze fled Kakashi’s face, switching to the ceiling. “I’m having trouble moving,” he admitted bitterly. “They did something to my back.”

Kakashi pictured the wound from before, observing how Iruka was hiding it. It would be difficult to move him around from outside the tank. Impetuously, Kakashi shrugged out of his lab coat and shoes and slipped into the tank, wary of any negative reaction from Iruka. The water was icy, chilling his flesh to the bone, but Kakashi ignored it, wading over to the merman.

“I’m going to flip you around to see,” he warned, Iruka watching him with wide eyes, unafraid.

“Why?”

“Tch. Just let me see.” 

Iruka hesitated before giving a short nod.

Leaning down, Kakashi gently grasped Iruka’s armpits and maneuvered the merman to grip the edge of the tank, facing away from him. Iruka was warm to the touch, feverishly so. Kakashi hoped there wasn’t an infection setting in.

Inspecting Iruka’s back, Kakashi didn’t move. There was a mass of wounded flesh beneath Iruka’s shoulder blades, bleeding sluggishly. The fins were tattered and dull, small amounts of tissue breaking off and floating away.

Lightly, Kakashi touched around the injury, feeling Iruka’s scaly skin. Iruka twitched beneath the touch and Kakashi could feel the shift in muscles below. “It doesn’t look pretty, most likely intended to paralyze you. Damage to the structure of your dorsal fin, lacerations about an inch deep, and ...small entry wounds from a taser.” Kakashi breathed through his nose mechanically. “Is there anything I can do?”

Iruka hummed drowsily. “It’s because of the iron. Unless you can get them off, my healing will be on par with yours, or worse.”

Kakashi touched Iruka’s shoulder, in musing awe of how human the skin felt. “Will it regenerate?”

“It has.”

Iruka’s words were ice sliding into Kakashi’s veins. He winced. “I’m sorry,” he whispered honestly, “I can debride it for you if necessary.”

Iruka wriggled lethargically out of Kakashi’s hands, latching onto his clothes as anchors. Beneath the water, his tail curled around them. The merman rounded on him, brown eyes appraising the cell biologist with unsettling intensity. The pebbled skin around Iruka’s eyes served to bolster the effect, nearer than they had ever been. Injured and weak, Iruka was still a sight to behold, a gorgeous being of color and life.

Kakashi held his breath, aware he was completely at Iruka’s mercy, no matter how weak the merman was.

Iruka inclined his head, the move slow. “You’re a strange being, Kakashi. Empathy and pity have no hold on you, yet the sight of me injured is what draws you in. Peculiar.” 

Kakashi didn’t have a reply.

Iruka extended his arm, a webbed hand brushing through Kakashi’s hair as gently as Kakashi had touched him. 

His heart gave another troubling thump.


	4. Savoureux

“White on white. White with grey. White and...red.” Iruka had settled into his floating suspension, gazing up at the ceiling, features more pensive and withdrawn than before. His tail moved slowly in undulating figure eights beneath him, fins twitching brokenly. “Do you ever tire of the white?” Iruka continued quietly.

Kakashi pulled his hands away from the keyboard and leaned back, barely giving a thought to the emails flooding his inbox. “You didn’t mind before,” he said, glancing off to the side.

“I wasn’t restricted to solely looking at it,” the merman sighed. His injury was healing incrementally, allowing Iruka to exert himself to a greater extent each day, but it was still a nasty wound that Iruka refused to let Kakashi bandage or clean. Instead, Iruka chose to hunker down and rest, unsettling Kakashi with his unnatural stillness.

Kakashi finally glanced back. “Are you in pain?”

Iruka’s warm brown eyes met his, cloudy with an emotion Kakashi couldn’t parse. “The pain is dulled, hovering in the back of my mind where I cannot reach.” He turned away, face turned towards the ceiling again. Quietly, Iruka began to hum, the sound sorrowful and forlorn.

The cell biologist listened intently, feeling the melancholy as if it were his own. Iruka sang for his freedom, for the suffering he was enduring; he didn’t deserve to be stuck in a tank, miles underground, cut off from his life and family. Trails of guilt burned in Kakashi’s stomach, acidic and strong. His own compliance left him feeling disgusted, yet he recognized there was little he could do without getting them both killed. Going rogue would be the stupidest move-he had no allies at SIRM, it would be complete suicide.

Kakashi focused on the iron cuffs strapped to Iruka’s wrists. Careful inspection had revealed small keyholes in the center of the cuffs, each a different configuration and rigged with sensors.

Orochimaru had been smart.

The merman weakly raised a hand, letting water trickle down his fins as he finished his melody, petering out into a long, mournful note. “I feel the call of the ocean within me. It cries for my return, to heal and protect me.”

“You sense the ocean.” Kakashi’s brows furrowed.

"I am of the sea. It’s part of me, now and always, regardless of distance,” Iruka said softly. “Its loss is greater than this pain.”

Kakashi was silent, sifting through the questions that had lingered in his mind during Iruka’s disappearance. “Iruka, what does Orochimaru want with you?”

“Things I have no control over and things I cannot give.”

Kakashi forgave the vagueness of his words, noticing how Iruka’s face scrunched in discomfort while he spoke. “Such as?”

The merman sighed again. “He was fixated on my healing capabilities and frequently asked about my lifespan.”

Kakashi stood from his desk, taking up his usual spot leaning on the edge of the tank. “They’ll keep hurting you to get what they want,” he said bluntly. “You should understand that now, more than ever.”

Iruka pushed towards him, swimming in close. The crown of his head brushed Kakashi’s hand. “And acquiescing may incur different methods of hurting me to get what they want.” Their eyes met. “We’re playing a new game.”

Kakashi gave a small nod. If Orochimaru and LS found out Iruka was hiding his intelligence, they would triple their efforts to get him to talk. “The lesser of two evils, as you so plainly put it before.”

Iruka frowned and a webbed hand reached towards Kakashi’s face, pausing inches away. “Not applicable in your case,” he said thoughtfully.

Almost cross-eyed, Kakashi examined the smooth skin of Iruka’s palms, fingers twitching to touch the wet flesh. Iruka hadn’t minded his scrutiny of his wounds, but Kakashi had yet to dissect his own feelings about the dissolution of their unspoken barriers. “What do you mean?”

“I can read intention,” Iruka said slowly, stretching to tug at Kakashi’s hair gently. “I see underneath the underneath, what is fought to kept hidden. I see you now, as I did then.” He smiled, his scar wrinkling.

Kakashi stilled, feeling his heart begin to pound as realization set in. He would never defend Orochimaru’s actions, or his own by proxy, but having Iruka understand how he truly felt was shocking. The merman saw right through him, from his false threats to his pretenses; he knew Kakashi hadn’t intentionally let Orochimaru hurt him. It didn’t lessen his guilt, only made it easier to swallow.

Digesting the new facets of their relationship, Kakashi mimicked the merman and wound his fingers into brown strands.

“Are you hungry?”

 

As with every night when they parted ways, Iruka settled down at the bottom of the tank, wrapping his tail around him and curling into a ball. The spines on his back popped out and lengthened while the scales of his tail tightened to act as a layer of armor. Iruka had admitted being at his most vulnerable while asleep; his lowered heart rate and steady breathing adjusted slowly, leaving him at a disadvantage if he needed to wake in an emergency. Kakashi suspected Orochimaru had discovered this vulnerability and used it to trap Iruka in the cuffs.

Waiting until the sea creature was deep in slumber, Kakashi reluctantly left, wanting to throw the tarp on the tank to hide it from view. Every day was a guessing game to see if Iruka would still be around in the morning; the cell biologist was loathe to concede he was losing sleep because of it.

The lab door slid shut behind him and Kakashi stood outside, tucking the straps of his mask around his ears. It was hours after the facility had shut down to the public, leaving only a few stray employees and guards. Idly, Kakashi knew if he kept leaving hours past closing, someone would notice and raise a red flag.

Trudging over to the elevator, Kakashi pressed the call button and blinked in surprise when the elevator opened and revealed its passenger.

Itachi glanced up from his phone, a second of surprise registering before it was wiped away smoothly. “You’re here late.”

“LS doesn’t like to wait,” Kakashi shot back, stepping in beside the other man.

Itachi grimaced, selecting the top floor. “Kurenai does enjoy her emailing.”

Glancing over at the dark-haired man as they rose, Kakashi noticed several large manila files tucked away under Itachi’s arm, the paper frayed from use. “Taking your work home? I didn’t take you for a workaholic.”

Itachi’s hand twitched minutely. “Aren’t you projecting. Would you like to take your work with you?” he answered tersely, peering up at the ceiling of the elevator.

Puzzled at his evasiveness, Kakashi frowned and didn’t reply. Why was Itachi acting so strangely?

Itachi swiftly typed on his phone, gripping the files tightly. “How is the asset?”

Unable to get a read on Itachi, Kakashi gave a half-shrug. “Mainly immobile. He sleeps and swims.”

“Interesting.” Itachi’s sharp gaze slid over to him. “You’ve given it an identity.”

Kakashi’s jaw snapped shut, nearly biting off his tongue. “Giving it a masculine pronoun is hardly an identity.”

“Could be a sign of getting attached. Careful,” Itachi said lightly, an insinuation hovering behind his words, too fleeting to grasp.

The cell biologist’s mind raced to cover his slip. “What can I say, I’ve always wanted a pet.”

Itachi didn’t smile, eyes boring into Kakashi’s. “Hm.”

Wary, Kakashi thought about asking him what was wrong, but didn’t. “Anymore testing for him?” He may not be able to stop Orochimaru’s cruel ways, but at the very least they could both be mentally prepared.

Itachi shifted his weight to one foot. “Not that I’m aware of,” he responded, hesitating for a microsecond longer than Kakashi liked.

Immediately on edge, Kakashi fought his body’s sudden spike of adrenaline. If they thought he was getting too attached to Iruka, now would be the perfect time to strike and take Iruka from him. He stared at the floor counter, watching it reach the top floor as blood roared in his ears. “Good. I’d like to keep the lab free of pests.”

“I’ll be sure to pass it along.”

The doors opened and neither moved.

The hairs on Kakashi’s neck stood and he set his shoulders back. “Shall we?” he said tonelessly.

“I seem to have forgotten my phone,” Itachi said pleasantly, hands void of the device Kakashi had seen moments ago.

There was a flight of stairs a few hallways away; he wouldn’t beat the elevator, but he’d make it in time. _In time to do what?!_ Kakashi stepped out, raising a hand halfway. “Goodbye.”

Itachi nodded once more, expression serious. “I’ll be seeing you.”

Once the doors shut, Kakashi strode to the stairway, forcing himself to walk across the lobby. A few of his coworkers passed by, all foreign faces. No one spoke to him.

Slamming through the exit to the stairs after checking for other people, Kakashi descended as quickly as he could, heart hammering in his chest. Iruka had just fallen asleep, he was _vulnerable_ to whatever depravities Orochimaru had ordered through Itachi. Skipping several steps, Kakashi landed on his floor with a stumble and burst through the door, halfway expecting to see Itachi waiting for him, disapproval on his face.

Voices floated down the hall and Kakashi froze, waiting to see another crew of Orochimaru’s men marching into his lab. Righting his badge and mask, he moved into the hallway, adopting a nonchalant slouch, deftly weaving an excuse for his presence: he’d merely forgotten to return a couple of samples into the fridge, no big deal.

From around the corner, two familiar security men appeared, joking and laughing as they spared him a curious glance before walking away. They were dungeon regulars, not guards from the other floors.

Breathing erratically, Kakashi swallowed heavily as his lab came into sight. Everything was as calm and quiet as he had left it. Still doubtful, Kakashi slapped his ID against the scanner and slid in before the doors fully opened, heading straight for the tank.

Iruka was inside, somnolent in the shape of a spikey ball.

“Tch.” Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed, willing his heart to calm. Settling as the threat passed, he placed his desk chair in front of the tank, dropping down with a thud. Illuminated by the green glow of Iruka’s tail, he leaned forward and he cursed, hands rubbing his face briskly. “Shit. Shit, shit, _shit.”_ Just how much had he grown to care for Iruka? How much was he willing to risk for a goddamn friendship?

He sat brooding, observing his silent companion. The damage Orochimaru had caused was healing nicely, no longer a gaping wound. He felt a twinge in his heart and he pressed his palm up against the glass. He wanted to wake the other, but it would raise questions he wasn’t ready to answer.

 

Eventually he glanced at his watch and left, needing to get lunch before the workday began.

 

Iruka’s colors were changing.

The change was gradual but sure, meticulously documented mentally. Despite being injured and weakened by the iron, Kakashi noticed the merman’s tail was deepening into vibrant greens, shimmery and stunning in the lights of the lab. Iruka’s humanoid parts were equally as robust, his torso and arms filling out to a healthier degree.

Kakashi had given it a few days before finally asking. “What does it mean if your colors are darkening?” Kakashi inquired, peeking at Iruka from his computer. “Although you’re healing slowly, it doesn’t seem to be taking a toll on your overall health.”

Iruka twisted around, picking at the scabs on his back. It was a bad habit Kakashi was unable to dissuade the merman from doing. “I don’t know,” Iruka responded, distracted.

Leaving another report unfinished with surprising indifference, Kakashi stood from his desk and walked to the tank, rolling up his sleeves to his elbows. “It’s your anatomy; shouldn’t you know?”

Iruka turned to him, cocking his head. “Perhaps I know and am unwilling to share the information,” he said, tail playfully flicking water at the cell biologist.

“Are you about to molt, like a snake?” Kakashi persisted, the kaleidoscopic colors calling to him. He really needed to brush up on his marine biology.

“You’re the scientist.” Iruka shrugged. “I am but a mere specimen.”

The healthier Iruka became, the more impish he was. Kakashi leaned on the edge of the tank, poised over the water. He held out a hand. “Will you let me figure it out?” The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a flare of warning in the back of his head; what was he doing?

Suspicious but cooperative, Iruka floated towards him and placed a webbed hand in Kakashi’s.

Thrilled, Kakashi gripped it with both hands, carefully fanning out Iruka’s fingers with his thumb. Between each digit, a thin film of skin connected them, thin enough to allow light to gleam through and shine on the frail veins inside. The bones within felt breakable, but Kakashi knew they held incredible strength. From the second knuckle and up, the skin was black and scaled, ending in claws that curved in slightly, several inches in length. The pads of Iruka’s fingertips were rough, adapted to gripping underwater. Kakashi was enthralled with the sensation.

Iruka pressed forward, aligning their hands, fingers to palms. The sizes nearly matched, Iruka’s being slightly taller with his claws. Kakashi’s hand started to tremble and he frowned, unable to name the emotion that stole his breath. He gently pulled Iruka towards him by the wrist, breaking the contact.

Keeping a grip on Iruka’s wrist and avoiding touching the sizzling iron, Kakashi tested the fin that ran the length of Iruka’s forearm, examining the color change there are well. He stretched out the tissue and compared it to a bat’s wing, delicate and sturdy. The skin at the base was soft and scaled, surrounded by normal human skin. The difference was impossible to tell with sight alone.

Glancing up, he was thrown off by how close Iruka was. Feeling as though he was pushing past the point of no return and falling into a steep precipice, Kakashi backed off, fingers tingling, craving to continue their exploration. He wanted to run his hands down Iruka’s tail, caress the fragile fins and--

“Find anything out?” Iruka asked, his voice unusually quiet, eyes dark.

“Not yet,” Kakashi breathed unevenly, mimicking Iruka’s tone. He met Iruka’s searching gaze, holding it for a long time. He wondered what the merman was seeing because he sure as hell didn’t know.

Iruka eventually smirked, the gesture scrunching up his scar. “My turn.” The merman crooked a finger at Kakashi and he stepped closer warily, the thought of disobeying never forming in his mind. Sharp talons carded through Kakashi’s hair the minute he got within reach.

“Why the hair?” Kakashi asked, leaning into the touch, eyes half-mast at the sensation.

“Your hair is strange. It stands up on its own, as if underwater,” Iruka replied seriously, manipulating the strands freely. Goosebumps broke out along Kakashi’s arms. “I like it.”

The curious fingers soon slid down to rub coarsely against Kakashi’s ears, prodding the shells inquisitively. Kakashi swallowed again and Iruka’s eyes darted down to his adam’s apple, his hands following the movement. He patted the smooth skin where gills would be on his own kind, the merman’s touch lighting liquid fire on Kakashi’s flesh.

A snap of his wrist and Kakashi’s jugular would be severed. The image was shockingly vivid in his mind, and he easily pictured Iruka leaning down to feast. He tilted his head back slightly, mind sluggish. Fingers spanned his throat, sliding back up to his cheeks and removing Kakashi’s mask with a careless flick. Kakashi didn’t care, thoughts fixated on how Iruka brushed the five o’clock shadow that was growing in, always keeping his claws out of the way.

“It’s prickly,” Iruka muttered, forehead furrowed as he rubbed his hands over Kakashi’s lips and chin, unaware of the shiver that shot down Kakashi’s spine at the sensations, or the way Kakashi’s eyes dilated.

The air was incredibly heady, thickening in Kakashi’s throat and sitting heavy in his lungs. Capturing Iruka’s probing hands, Kakashi held them lightly. “I need to inspect your back,” he said almost in a whisper.

Iruka pursed his lips and it seemed like he was about to argue, but he nodded, maneuvering to give Kakashi full view of his spine. “I’ve regained more mobility. It shouldn’t be too long until it’s complete.”

The fins and spines that had been torn were healing, pale, soft flesh coming in and pushing out the dead tissue. Kakashi eyed it critically, palpating the wound lightly. It felt firmer and the bruises were clearing up. Sliding up the base of the fin, Kakashi picked up on the small quivers that broke out under his fingers, noticing a small shift in the scales. He lazily ran his fingers up Iruka’s back, all the way to his nape, feeling Iruka shudder, curving with the movement.

Kakashi’s lips parted and he breathed slowly, dragging his nails down Iruka’s skin experimentally, circling back to Iruka’s injury. He faintly heard Iruka hiss, the sound low and pain-free, sending Kakashi’s pulse skyrocketing.

The cell biologist touched the black-tipped spines that stuck out from Iruka’s dorsal fin, following the edge. The tip of one sliced deep into his finger and he felt a small tingle that ignited a numbness in his hand, instantly spreading to his palm and wrist.

Startled, Kakashi pulled away, feeling his forearm go weak. “Oh, _fuck._ ”

Iruka spun around, matching his cursing with a flurry of clicking. His eyes were wide, fear on his face as he reached for Kakashi as quickly as he could. “Those are _poisonous!”_ he shouted.

Kakashi fell away and slid down the side of the tank, the paralysis reaching his chest and inching towards his legs. How toxic were they? Would it begin necrotizing his flesh? Shut down his organs? He landed on the floor with his back, head ringing as it slammed into the tiles. Blearily, he saw Iruka still reaching for him from above, mouth calling out his name as the world cut to black.

 

Kakashi came to with a gasp for air, choking slightly. His brain struggled to work, piecing together what was happening in fuzzy increments that refused to make sense. He was wet, clothes heavy on him, and lying on something warm and pliable. Opening his eyes, Kakashi peered up at Iruka, confused at the height difference. He faintly realized his head was resting on Iruka’s lap, distracted by a new, more important revelation.

Iruka’s mouth was wrapped around Kakashi’s injured pointer finger, concentration furrowing his brows as he sucked, holding Kakashi’s hand in place with his webbed one.

Kakashi’s breath hitched in his chest and he twitched, floored by the surge of arousal that lit a fire in his belly and sent his heart off kilter. His complete attention was focused on the way Iruka’s tongue pressed against his finger, lapping the wound, the seal Iruka’s lips made, the sharp edges of his teeth…

Sensing his jolt, Iruka glanced down. Relief clear on his face, Iruka immediately collapsed backward, propped up only by the tank. Exhaustion etched deep lines in his face, the effort to get to Kakashi too much. Kakashi’s finger slipped from his mouth to rest on his lower lip, pushing it down slightly.

“Good,” Iruka huffed weakly, eyes narrowing into thin slits as he watched Kakashi, at his mercy.

Kakashi blinked.

Iruka had risked himself to save him. Profoundly weakened, especially out of water, Iruka had clawed his way out and saved him. A foreign feeling filled Kakashi’s chest, sending his heart hammering with vengeance. Taking advantage of the strange air and his unsteadiness, Kakashi impulsively ran his finger along Iruka’s lip, path eased by the merman’s saliva. He dipped in to touch the needle-like teeth, the points threatening to break skin.

Iruka let him, invited him in. The merman’s slick tongue brushed his finger, tasting the sliced flesh with a deep hum and drawing it further in. Iruka faked a nip and Kakashi felt desire roll through him, hot and electrifying.

He removed his finger and boldly smirked, recalling how truly devious Iruka was. “I would mistake you for a siren,” he admitted, adrift in the sensations wreaking havoc in his body. “Luring men to their death with a song and a pretty face.”

The merman smiled coyly, hair falling forward, reinforcing Kakashi’s comparison. “Would you like me to sing to you?” he whispered, voice low and purring.

Crafty little beast. “Not a siren, a demon,” Kakashi amended, his voice gravelly, affected by Iruka’s suggestive tone.

“Your death would be painless. Pleasurable. You’d be left begging at the end.”

Kakashi felt another flash of heat dart down, stirring his cock below his belt as his strength was restored gradually. “Perhaps a different time,” he said breathlessly, close to breaking another barrier he didn’t know he had, helplessly caught by Iruka’s entrancing eyes _._ “I can’t feel my legs.”

“What a coincidence, neither can I.”

It took a second for Kakashi to get the joke in his foggy mind of lust and confusion, but he laughed loudly, Iruka huffing with him. He felt delirious and loose, blaming it on the side effects of the toxin. He then stopped, holding Iruka’s unreadable gaze before sliding down to his lips, still wet from his finger.

Slowly, so very slowly, Kakashi arched up, bracing himself on the ground with his arm. Iruka followed his movements with questioning eyes, riveted and trusting.

The cell biologist didn’t allow himself to think anymore.

Kakashi kissed Iruka, pressing their lips together chastely. Heart in his throat, he pulled back an inch, gauging the merman’s reaction. Iruka fidgeted, eyes wide open as he studied the sensation with intrigue and unfamiliarity, cautiously pressing back. Intoxicated, Kakashi indulged himself and deepened the kiss, mindful of Iruka’s teeth as he coaxed Iruka to kiss back with his tongue.

The merman tasted salty, his tongue oddly pebbled and rough like fine sandpaper, drawing Kakashi’s attention with each swipe and caress. Kakashi’s hand found its way into Iruka’s hair, tangling in the soft locks, hungrily tilting the merman’s head for better access.

An explorative palm touched his side, rising to his ribs shyly. Kakashi encouraged the touch, his injured hand moving to rest where Iruka’s hip would be, thumb digging into the smooth flesh it encountered and rubbing softly.

Iruka’s tail wriggled on the tiled floor, the end twirling around Kakashi’s ankle tightly, fins tucked away.

Light-headed, Kakashi backed away after a moment, sucking in shaky breaths. They were only inches apart, Kakashi staring directly into Iruka’s blown irises. Iruka’s tongue shot out to lick his lips, unknowingly or knowingly seductive.

His heart gave another powerful thump and Kakashi faintly wondered if he needed to visit a cardiologist.

 

Kakashi picked out two bowls of ramen, recognizing the decision as another example of pure capitulation. There was no fighting it, no turning back.

He was completely infatuated with a merman.

How fitting, he thought, that it would be Iruka. Kakashi could barely stand his own kind. It made sense that he’d be drawn to another oddity, to the only being that he’d shared his space with and actively tried to befriend. Only it had blossomed into much more than that.

He paid for the meals, impatient to get to the lab.

Iruka hadn’t cared for the awkwardness or ethical deliberations Kakashi’s mind threw at himself afterwards, only decreeing that Kakashi had to place him back in the tank or he would die of dehydration. It was accepted with pragmatic grace.

Kakashi felt as foolish as he did when Iruka nearly bit his hand off, and yet did nothing to stop what was happening. Maybe he wasn’t coping with the change effectively, but Kakashi found he didn’t care to argue, solely acknowledging he was smitten for the first time in his life and everything was untrodden ground.

One could argue that, given Iruka’s proclivities for manipulation, the merman was just exploring another avenue of trying to escape, but Kakashi gave it little credence. Love-struck or stupid, it was unimportant.

Stepping out of the shop, Kakashi caught the eyes of a man exiting the coffee shop across the street. It was Itachi, dressed in somber clothing. They nodded in greeting and met at the intersection, walking in companionable silence. Itachi handed him a cup of coffee that Kakashi accepted with passing suspicion.

“I may have some good news,” Itachi said matter-of-factly, taking a swig of his coffee.

Kakashi hummed in affirmation. Would a merman even like ramen? He’d have to bring in a greater variety of food for Iruka to try.

“Orochimaru has decided to reschedule the vivisection to today.”

Kakashi’s blood turned to ice. It took all his concentration to keep walking normally, alarm ringing throughout his body. “Oh?”

“The tests we conducted a few weeks back were rendered inconclusive as the asset continuously screwed with the measurements, even after we neutered him with the iron cuffs. It’s incredibly difficult to contain him, and so it has been decided that LS will work in conjunction with Dissection to collect as many samples as possible.”

Kakashi was silent. He had known this was in store for Iruka, but not that it would be so soon. He felt nauseous at the thought of handling Iruka’s dead flesh, knowing he’d be receiving the brunt of the viscera. He was disgusted.

Itachi sighed, running a thumb along the lid of his drink. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the best we can do. Future expedition teams will be sent to harvest any other creatures that may have lived in the same area where Orochimaru found him.”

Robotically, Kakashi sipped his coffee, hiding how his heart fought to burst out of his chest in panic. His hands were clammy and cold, his mind racing. “I assume they want a young one?” he asked bluntly.

Itachi inclined his head. “A child. Malleable and trainable.”

“Easily handled,” Kakashi interjected, forcing his apathy.

“Correct.”

Kakashi exhaled slowly. “Then by the end of the day, I can expect to have the lab to myself?”

Itachi gazed ahead. “You may want to start saying goodbye sooner than that.”

 

Entering the lab with a terrible sense of dread, Kakashi watched Iruka prop himself on the edge of the tank, a warm, welcoming smile on his face.

“I’m almost completely healed,” he announced. “Residual stiffness, but nothing crippling.” His tail twisted and danced, as if to show Kakashi that Iruka spoke the truth.

Silently, Kakashi scrutinized the merman. He struggled to find something mundane or derivative to comment on, but he couldn’t, not this time. He resented how carefree and happy Iruka appeared as his own world had been rocked on its foundations.

“You’re going to die today,” he said, the words heavy and foreign on his tongue. He waited, wanting to see a reaction outside of himself, to disrupt Iruka’s mood as it had his.

Iruka blinked at him slowly, nonplussed. “I know.”

Kakashi marched up to the tank, the food falling to the ground, forgotten. “You don’t care?” Kakashi demanded through clenched teeth, feeling as if he would explode. He struggled to contain himself, fighting the onslaught that inundated him from within. “What happened to biding your time?”

“I think you saw what happened,” Iruka said softly, his smile disappearing. “I am no fool Kakashi, my opportunity was stolen.”

“Bull. Shit.” Kakashi stared hard into Iruka’s serpentine eyes, searching.

Iruka’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Would you rather I naively hope to be set free? Pretend I don’t know what that man wants and how far he’ll go to get it? Kakashi, be smart.”

Then Kakashi finds it, hidden.

Iruka was deathly afraid. The merman knew what awaited him and was terrified, using every ounce of his strength to feign being unaffected.

A pang of matching fear hit Kakashi. “They’re going to tear you apart. I’m going to be analyzing your body, piece by piece.” His voice wavered.

Iruka tried to give a wry smile, failing as he ducked his head, shoulders shaking. “I take solace in the fact that once I’m dead, my body will rot away. There will be no bones, nothing to study.”

“You can’t--”

Iruka’s head shot up. “There isn’t much you or I can or can’t do,” he cut in. “Not here, not like this.”

Kakashi was close to losing his shit, his world shifting in sickening degrees that wouldn’t let him get his bearings. Hyperventilating, he tried to control it manually. How things had changed indeed.

No.

How _Iruka_ had changed _him_ and how Kakashi had paved the road to his own destruction. He was in too deep, miles past the point of no fucking return. He was done.

Iruka met his gaze, going through his own internal battles. Imploring, he reached for Kakashi and Kakashi went. They met in a clumsy, brutal kiss, one full of regrets, frustration, and mourning.

Kakashi had found a friend-- a companion, someone he wanted by his side and he was to be killed; the irony of it all. He gathered up all the violent emotions Iruka brought out and forced them into the kiss, hands tucking beneath Iruka’s fins as Iruka’s claws dug into the skin of his shoulders, anchoring them together.

Amid the clash of teeth and lips, Kakashi nicked his bottom lip on razors, fittingly painting the kiss with blood and pain.

Voices were coming down the hallway, Orochimaru’s the loudest among them.

Iruka retracted his claws and shoved Kakashi away. “I will be quick,” he warned, backing up to the middle of the tank.

Kakashi wiped his lips and reached for him. “Iruka--”

The doors beeped and slid open. Flanked by a crew of security men and an industrial platform cart, Orochimaru marched in, a stun baton in one hand and an aluminum briefcase in another. He barely glanced at Kakashi, eyes trained on Iruka. “Kakashi, you can leave or watch. It’s not going to be pleasant.”

Planting his hands on the edge of the tank, Iruka’s eyes began glowing. All of his fins flared out in a formidable display, puffing up his appearance; the spines on his back shot out and his teeth lengthened, jaw gnashing. His claws cracked the tank.

Orochimaru scolded Iruka, standing back. “Already? We haven’t even started. Let me have my fun.”

Iruka roared, a bone-rattling noise that the hindbrain easily understood as a threat. The merman’s tail thrashed, striking the walls of his enclosure with ground-shaking thumps, challenging Orochimaru.

The man laughed, setting the briefcase down carefully. “Growl all you want, you and I both know you can’t doing anything with the cuffs on.”

Driven to do _something_ before Iruka was injured, Kakashi moved towards the vile man, hesitating when the baton was swung in his direction, the zap of electricity raising the hairs on his neck.

The dark-haired man watched him with shrewd eyes. “Take a step back, Kakashi, and leave.” It was a pass, excusing his action.

Kakashi didn’t move.

“Tch. You disappoint me. Get him out of here,” Orochimaru ordered, attention back on Iruka. He advanced towards the merman, rod crackling.

A lackey grabbed Kakashi by his upper arm, another his shoulder. Pissed, Kakashi grabbed the hand on his shoulder, wrenching it off and--

The man was hauled from Kakashi, snatched by an invisible force and slammed into the wall, spraying blood and viscera all over the lab. Kakashi blinked in shock. The other fell to his knees, choking as water began to pour from his mouth and nose.

Iruka howled, the sound interwoven with shrill whistles and clicks that grew in power. Half out of the tank, he snarled, the cuffs on his hands beginning to glow red, deeply burning the flesh of his wrists. The water in his tank rose in the air, bubbling, floating in glistening globes above the merman. A security guard darted forward, reaching for his gun. Iruka swiped, taking off the man’s jaw.

Knocking down one of the men that aimed at Iruka and violently kicking him, Kakashi grabbed a canister of oxygen that rolled his way.

Orochimaru cursed, radioing in back-up and dropping his baton. Swiftly switching to a modded stun gun, he took aim and shot several prongs into Iruka’s exposed stomach, depressing the trigger again.

Iruka seized and dropped, the water falling out of the air and crashing down onto the lab’s floor in a tidal wave.

Orochimaru kept the gun on Iruka, the cables attached to the prongs jerking as electricity poured through them. He opened the briefcase, removing a collar that looked similar to the cuffs.

White fury blinded Kakashi and he brought the can down before he registered moving. The metal sunk into Orochimaru’s skull, once, twice, thrice, until Kakashi dropped it, Orochimaru plummeting to the ground in a boneless heap. Kakashi punted the collar and stun gun away, taking a step back.

With wheezing breaths, Iruka turned to Kakashi, fins relaxing in bewilderment, the green fading from his eyes. “Kakashi?”

“Oh fuck, _fuck!_ ” The cell biologist looked at his hands, thick, syrupy blood and bone fragments dripping from them. Had he just killed a man?

He glanced up, eyes meeting Iruka’s. They were both deathly still.

Orochimaru’s radio sparked. “Back-up team on the way. ETA 5 minutes.”

Kakashi tore his gaze away from the merman and towards the unmanned cart.

“Shit.”

 

 

****_TBC_  
** **

****  
** “Life is but the shipwreck of our plans”  
-The Shape of Water**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated :)


	5. Sorbet

Kakashi’s heart gave a single  _ thump _ and he moved, leaping over Orochimaru’s lifeless corpse. Skidding and slipping sideways in the water from Iruka’s tank, Kakashi landed hard, pain bursting from his arms as they caught his weight. Water soaked his clothes, dragging down his lab coat as he scrambled towards Iruka. 

The merman squirmed onto his side and roughly yanked out the taser prongs in his gut, grunting as red blossomed from the entry points. He threw them across the room, collapsed onto his back and shut his eyes, chest heaving. His vibrant, blue-green tail flopped loosely, uncoiling as his fins shuttered closed. 

Kakashi slid to his knees beside Iruka and grabbed his shoulders to help prop him up, fingers sliding over the scales that adorned Iruka’s shoulder’s. He let Iruka rest against him, using the opportunity to inspect the small wounds, relieved they were relatively minor compared to Iruka’s previous injuries; he was okay, for the moment. 

That only left their current problem. 

“Oh, we’re fucked.” 

A countdown that sounded ominously like a death knell had begun to ring in the back of his head. How the hell would he get Iruka out? Cameras and security guards lined each inch of the state-of-the-art building, not to mention the dungeon was buried hundreds of feet below ground. The only exit from his division were the long service tunnels that connected the docks to the outside world, and even those were locked down with biometric security measures that only select few higher-ups had the ability to traverse. Would his ID badge even work on the doors outside his section? He’d never bothered to try.

Wild panic bubbled up in his chest and Kakashi cut it off before it gained traction, refusing to lose any more control. If he wanted to get them out alive, he would need to  _ think _ , they would need a  _ plan. _

Iruka craned his head, looking behind Kakashi with pained fascination. “You killed him.”

Kakashi winced, the realization giving way to a wave of nausea and disgust. He belatedly noticed he was as he leaving bloodied handprints on Iruka as he steadied the merman. “Hell, I might have just killed us both. We have seconds until back-up arrives. Can you get up? _ ” _

Iruka nodded and braced on the ground to help lift his weight. Immediately, his arms quivered and gave out and Kakashi caught him before he landed, grip slipping slightly.

“Oi, Iruka,” Kakashi said worriedly, glancing back towards the lab doors.

“I...I may not be of much help,” Iruka grunted, his face pinching closed and paling. “Something’s wrong—” he let out a harsh cough, tiny riverlets of blood bursting from his mouth and running down his chin. “Ka—”

Alarmed, Kakashi pulled back and reassessed Iruka, running his hands along Iruka’s gills, throat, and chest, searching for a cause. He recoiled as something hot and metallic brushed his leg and he peered down to watch black, wormy veins bulge from beneath Iruka’s scaled skin, stretching from the patch hidden beneath the cuffs and winding around Iruka’s arms like vices. The smell of burnt flesh and hot metal sizzled in the air.

_ The iron _ , Kakashi thought with rising horror,  _ the iron was poisoning Iruka _ . It had managed to sear through the top layers of his skin, reaching the vulnerable tendons and muscle beneath, introducing toxins directly into Iruka’s body. 

It was killing him.

Iruka groaned, whimpering as the reek of iron worsened. The colors of his scales darkened and yellowed where the veins touched and Iruka seemed to wither, retching more blood with each passing second. The veins slithered higher, necrotizing more of Iruka’s flesh.

A fresh wave of terror inundated Kakashi and his mind blanked for a second before kicking into high gear.  _ He had to get the cuffs off _ . “Key, we need the key. Iruka, hold on,” he hissed sharply, grabbing Iruka’s biceps. Kakashi cursed as Iruka reflexively jerked and latched onto him, nails sinking into his forearms. 

Hastily, Kakashi dragged the merman over to the cart and laid him back down on the ground. He painfully pried Iruka’s claws out of his arms and sprinted over to Orochimaru’s body, steadfastly avoiding the bloody mess of the other’s head as dug through Orochimaru’s pockets. His fingers closed around a cool metal key and Kakashi couldn’t feel any relief, now hearing the insidious countdown intertwine with Iruka’s reedy breathing.

The lab doors cheerfully chirped open and Kakashi stilled.

Kurenai walked in briskly, high heels clicking, her attention divided between juggling her ID and a heavy aluminum briefcase. “I’ve brought the new batch of serums as requested, straight from Toxicology. We are clear to begin—” her voice trailed off as she lifted her head and stilled, eyes tracking the carnage in the room and ending on Iruka’s writhing form. “Oh fuck, the asset’s free.” She took a step back, reality dawning in.  _ “OH SHIT!”  _ Her gaze shot to Kakashi before returning to Iruka. “Kakashi, what happened?!”

Kakashi didn’t reply, tightly squeezing the key in his fist. He stole a glance at Iruka and gritted his teeth. How close was he to dying?

“Fuck!” Kurenai ripped open the briefcase and removed a silver syringe gun and a vial of red liquid with shaking hands. She dropped the briefcase and locked the vial onto the gun with a click. “Kakashi, stand back, we haven’t tested this tranq yet and it may react negatively. Once it’s down, I’ll need your help securing it. The rest of the team is on the way.”

Iruka erupted into garbled hissing at the sight of the syringe, his facial fins and spines fanning out in anger. He rolled onto his stomach and pushed up onto his hands, fighting to keep his arms steady as water bubbled around his cuffs, boiling. His tail whipped the ground and sent up a tiny wave of water, too feeble to be menacing.

Running on desperation and blind emotion, Kakashi launched himself between Iruka and Kurenai and thrust out a hand in defense. Iruka was too weak to attack; Kakashi could hear his debility in his blood-thickened growls. “Kurenai,  _ wait _ . Put it down,” he ordered. 

His mind raced furiously to piece together a strategy to somehow convince Kurenai to help them. He couldn’t bribe her and logically, she would gain nothing from helping him; he had no money to offer, nor a superior job opportunity than what Orochimaru had promised them all. It was in her best interest to let them die. 

Kakashi’s eyes slitted, selecting a different argument. Potentially, Kurenai could be swayed with sympathy or appeals to her empathetic nature. He could find a way to rope in Asuma or Mirai as collateral if she refused. It was worth a short, and at the very least, he could overpower her.

Kurenai scowled at him and the gun dipped a degree at Kakashi’s noncompliance. “Wait for what? Until it kills again? Nevermind the vivisection, Orochimaru will have it killed for what it’s done. We may be able to preserve some samples for further study and—,” abruptly, she recognized the corpse Kakashi had been raiding. Her nostrils flared and her jaw shut with an audible snap. She then turned the syringe gun on Kakashi, side stepping into the room, avoiding the mass of blood and viscera at her feet. “I have 12 ml of a nasty cocktail of tranqs that will be in your circulatory system unless you tell me what the  _ fuck  _ is going on. Now, Kakashi!” she yelled.

Kakashi felt cold sweat bead up at his nape and temples. That was definitely enough to kill him, but would it kill Iruka or keep him docile enough to be vivisected? How many of the others were armed with something similar? Absently, Kakashi realized he’d never been in such a state of panic. His hand was trembling, but whether it was from adrenaline or fear, Kakashi didn’t know.

The lab doors slid open once more and Itachi stepped through, his pace faltering as his gaze circled the room and landed on Kurenai. “This is unexpected,” he said lightly, eyes flickering to Kakashi.

Kakashi almost felt a noose tighten around his neck as Itachi’s black eyes bore into him, revealing nothing.

“Itachi!” Kurenai cried out in relief, “Good! I’m going to need some backup.” She tossed the syringe gun to the other scientist and grabbed Orochimaru’s briefcase, tugging out the metal collar. It clicked and snapped open, ready to be placed around Iruka’s neck.

Iruka continued to hiss and growl, quieting down as exhaustion leached his remaining reservoirs of strength. He slumped, the spines and fins on his back drooping, unable to stay upright. Kakashi jerked, wanting to go to him, but paused as both scientists eyed him warily.

Kurenai approached cautiously, a palm towards Kakashi, and her voice took on a placating tone that set Kakashi’s teeth on edge. “Kakashi, last chance. Security is on the way, but I can hold them off. What are you doing with the asset? It’s a very dangerous creature, one you don’t know anything about.” 

Kakashi watched her focus slip to Orochimaru and he could’ve laughed. The moment he gave in, both he and Iruka were set to be killed or kept alive for experimentation. He’d heard the rumors. 

“You’re part of the team, I don’t want to see you get hurt. Let’s talk this through,” Kurenai urged.

Eyes sliding over to Itachi, Kakashi watched the other study the gun, meticulously tapping the barrel for air bubbles. Itachi would most likely follow along, gleefully feeding the sadistic streak the lurked beneath his small smiles; he would need to deal with Kurenai first. Kakashi turned his attention back to her, the timer continuing to tick forebodingly  in the back of his mind. He ran his tongue over his teeth, tasting iron as he chose his next move. “You kill me and he kills both of you, and anyone who walks through that door. Orochimaru and his team can attest to that. Don’t do this.” 

Kurenai gave a strained laugh, looking incredulous. “Oh, we’re bargaining now? You want to help it escape? Is that it? And then what? Kakashi, this is a monster, it has  _ killed _ innocent people, and it will keep killing. Why are you defending it!? Stand down before you do something you regret.”

Pain blossomed in Kakashi’s jaw as he ground his teeth together, frustration bleeding through. Would he have to kill them too? All for Iruka? The more Kakashi thought about it, the more resolute he grew; he had to protect Iruka. He’d killed once already, why not again? Gone was his horror with having murdered Orochimaru, replaced with acidic vitriol that ate away at his fear and apathy and replaced it with slow-burning anger. He avoided looking at Iruka, staring directly into Kurenai’s eyes. “Kurenai, choose wisely. Would you like to go home tonight?”

The words drew Kurenai up short and she looked shocked. “You wouldn’t.”

Itachi finally moved, striding over to Kurenai. “It seems he already has.” With almost comical disinterest, he jammed the syringe into her neck, depressing the trigger. 

Kurenai’s eyes bugged open and she dropped the collar. “Itachi,  _ no _ !” Clutching the lapels of Itachi’s lab coat in one hand, she clasped the other hand to her neck and slowly slid to her knees, coughing wetly as the drugs hit her system and her muscles gave out. She tipped over and fell into the water, spasming as she overdosed.

Kakashi blinked. He dropped his hand. “Itachi?”

“Kakashi,” Itachi replied easily. He tossed the gun aside carelessly and stepped over Kurenai’s body, drawing closer to Kakashi. He was relaxed, his steps unhurried and his hands tucked into his pockets. “Is this corporate theft? Who are you working for? Are you planning on utilizing the asset for your own benefit? Or are you seeking to help it?”

The silver-haired scientist inhaled slowly. “Itachi, what are you doing?” He briefly glanced at Kurenai’s motionless form before returning to Itachi, straining to predict his next move. Through his peripherals, he noticed Iruka watching Itachi with narrowed eyes, on guard despite the haze of pain he was under. Did Iruka recognize Itachi from LS?

“I knew you were hiding something from me. I had my suspicions.” Itachi peered over at Iruka.

Pieces of their last conversations and interactions floated to the forefront of Kakashi’s mind, pulling up the strange instances of Itachi’s behaviors. Kakashi frowned. Itachi’s last warning took on a different meaning. “You knew?”

Itachi stepped to the side and crouched down, snagging Kurenai’s briefcase and rifling through it to remove a tiny glass bottle of clear liquid that he tucked into his lab coat. He looked up at Kakashi, raising both brows. “I know now.” He reached into his back pocket and tugged out a key. He held it out towards Kakashi, palm up. “The cuffs have a two sets of locks. You might want to hurry.”

Any other time and Kakashi would be questioning every move Itachi made, but the insistent ring of the countdown in his mind took precedence. Kakashi grabbed the key and returned to Iruka. He singed his fingers as he stripped off the cuffs and tossed them away, pouring water over Iruka’s bleeding wrists. The black veins remained firm, distorting Iruka’s flesh.

The merman watched him weakly, too pale for Kakashi’s liking. Iruka then gave a small smile, a private one thanking Kakashi. Wondering if his heart would ever stop it’s frantic pace, Kakashi smiled back, wiping blood from Iruka’s lips and chin with his thumbs. “How bad is it?”

Iruka opened his mouth to reply but Itachi cut him off, prodding Orochimaru’s corpse. “He’ll rebound quickly, given enough rest, but right now, he’s in a very fragile state. You’ll need to get him out of here before another set gets put on.”

“Working on it,” Kakashi grunted, ripping off his lab coat and using the hem to dab at Iruka’s injuries. He couldn’t help the tiny sliver of hope that was building in his chest.

Dunking the coat in the water at his feet, he spread it along the flat surface of the cart, creating a soft, damp surface. He ducked down to hook his hands beneath Iruka’s armpits, mindful of his spines and the delicate membranes of his translucent fins. Iruka’s weight had tripled since the last time Kakashi carried him, progress Kakashi now lamented as he couldn’t easily carry him anymore. He stepped up on the cart and dragged Iruka on, gingerly setting him down and watching as the merman curled his tail around himself defensively, nosing his injured wrists and lapping at the blood.

Itachi looked at him. “I’m curious, what’s your plan?”

Kakashi sprinted to his locker and yanked out his extra scrubs and spare street clothes, dumping them into the sinks and turning the taps on full. Raiding the supply closet in the far corner of the lab, he dropped in stacks of cleaning cloths with his clothes. “I’ll take him through the loading docks and out one of the service tunnels. The cameras there are shoddy, security is average. If I move quickly, I can surprise them and take one of the supply vans that are parked on the right side of the docks.”

Once the fabrics were soaked, he jogged back to the cart and arranged them around Iruka, creating a nest to keep him hydrated. He ran a hand down Iruka’s tail reassuringly, draping few towels over the finds near Iruka’s waist. He paused as Itachi handed him his own coat but took the material, wet it, and placed it around Iruka’s shoulders.

“That sounds like a bad plan.”

Kakashi’s lips twitched in a semblance of a smile. “I didn’t say it was a good one.” 

A stampede of footsteps suddenly burst out from behind the lab door, shattering the fragile blossom of hope. Itachi straightened up and Kakashi slotted himself in front of Iruka again, feeling his heart try its best to leap out of his chest. 

The cavalry had come.

A team of masked security guards flooded in, weapons drawn as they lined up in a semicircle around them. A crew of scientists with ‘Dissection’ stitched on their lab coats marched in after them, armed with more stun batons, syringe guns, and restraint poles.

The security guards trained their sights on Kakashi and Iruka, ignoring the rest of the butchery in the room. “Hatake Kakashi, move aside, we’re here to retrieve the asset!” the guard in the middle shouted, taking a step forward and jerking his gun to the side. “If you refuse to cooperate, we will bring you down.”

A Dissection member stepped out of the formation and waved his hand towards several other employees. “Kidomaru, Tayuya! You two restrain the asset’s tail. Jirobo, Kimimaro, the torso and extremities. Be gentle, men; we’ll need it in pristine condition if we want it to last.” He turned to face Itachi. “Care to join us?” 

Itachi smiled pleasantly. “Sakon. Is Ukon around? You two never seem to part.”

“He’s doing his job, unlike some.” Sakon bent down and picked up the stray collar Kurenai had dropped. He twirled it and held it out towards Itachi. “Want to do the honors, or will the dungeon keeper see the light?” His gaze slid to Kakashi, eyes full of disdain. “Well?”

“Fuck you,” Kakashi snapped, tensing for a confrontation. Behind him, Iruka stirred.

“Well, how eloquent.” Sakon jerked his chin. “Security will deal with you, I don’t get paid for that.” He sunk back into his team and the security guards closed in.

Right as Kakashi had deemed them sufficiently hopeless and outnumbered, Iruka flipped on his side and stuck his hand into the water on the floor. His serpentine eyes cracked open, glowing a shimmering, brilliant green.

With a curious sense of detachment, Kakashi watched as thin spires of water jetted from the ground and hardened into ice shards that shot forward to skewer the guards and scientists, both shredding and pinning them to the back wall in a morbid, bloody display. Shots rang out and bullets sunk into stainless steel metal with sharp, screeching noises, all missing their target. The restraint poles and batons dropped to the floor with a thunderous clatter as more blood poured onto the floor, turning the water red.

Itachi observed the mess with the smallest hint of displeasure.

“I won’t be able to do that again,” Iruka gasped, the green fading from his eyes as he fell back bonelessly. “The iron has drained me too much.” 

Kakashi went to him and grasped his limp arm to tuck it back onto the cart, running his fingers down the thin flesh of his fin. “Idiot,” he chided despite being immensely relieved. “You need to rest.”

Itachi only seemed mildly surprised Iruka could speak. “I was going to talk them down, but that worked,” he sighed, walking over to the exit and slapping his ID on the door’s security panel, checking the hallway. “They aren’t the only threat.”

Suddenly, the building’s alarm system began to blare. Red lights cut on, flashing in time with the alarm.

Itachi turned to Kakashi and smiled. “Hope your plan works.”

  
  


The edge of the cart rammed into the wall, grinding shrilly as Kakashi corrected and continued sprinting down the corridor. He could scarcely see through the visor of the guard’s helmet and the red flashing lights, his gaze alternated wildly between tracking the next ID-locked doors and Iruka’s barely conscious form hidden beneath a swathe of wet cloths. He felt nauseated by the non-stop frantic beating of his heart and the reek of blood from the guard the helmet had belonged to.

Up ahead, Itachi opened the doors to the next hallway, listening intently to the radio he had stolen from a different security guard. “They’re at Dissection, sweeping the offices and labs,” he called out.

Only three floors separated them from another onslaught of guards. Once security made its way down the building and to the dungeon, all hope of getting out alive would be lost. Kakashi gritted his teeth and ran faster, pumping his legs as hard as he could. Bypassing Itachi, he reached the final corridor and made a sharp left. Kakashi could see the large doors leading to the docks.

Yanking the cart back from crashing into the doorway, Kakashi motioned impatiently for Itachi to catch up and shove his ID against the scanner. The machine beeped angrily at Itachi’s ID, denying them entrance. Kakashi’s grip tightened on the cart. “What? Why isn’t it opening? Don’t you have access?”

“I normally have access. They may be blocking employees from leaving the building. No one gets in, no one gets out,” Itachi mused, trying again and placing his hand on the fingerprint scanner next to the keycard slot. It rejected him once more. “Any more ideas?”

_ “Motherfucker,”  _ Kakashi cursed vehemently and tugged off the helmet, letting it fall to the floor. “The doors are too heavy to move by force, and too thick to break through. It’s too late to take the elevators if we can’t get out through here. We’re trapped.”

With barely a whisper of movement, Iruka rose up between them and plunged his clawed hands deep into the wall up to his elbows, splintering through layers of drywall and metal. His eyes were green again, pupils lost in the glow. The trail of spines on his back popped out defensively as his fins opened and spread out in a stunning display of frightening beauty and horror. The colors on his tail brightened and pulsed, becoming an shifting ocean of blue and green. Iruka’s lips were trembling slightly as he whispered something Kakashi couldn’t understand.

Kakashi retreated a step, the hairs on the back of his neck and arms rising. “Iruka?”

For once, Itachi looked genuinely unsettled.

The sound of a pipe rupturing came from inside the wall and water burst through around Iruka’s arms, spraying out faster as his chanting grew stronger, flooding the hallway. Ripping his right arm out from the wall, Iruka embedded it into the scanner, reaching into the wall behind it. Sparks flew out of the machine as Iruka hissed, pausing his chanting to concentrate.

Small tendrils of water sprouted from the ground and connected and swirled around Iruka’s right bicep, sliding onto his skin and traveling down past his elbow and surging into the scanner, rapidly shorting it out. Iruka let loose a series of clicks and whistles and more water rushed into the scanner and wall. The drywall distorted, growing lumps as the water spread out. One by one, the ceiling lights sparked and burst, leaving the hallway in total darkness. The loading dock doors gave a mangled beep and slid open before shutting off. 

Cries of a total blackout buzzed erupted from the radio in Itachi’s hand and Kakashi realized what Iruka had done.

On cue, Iruka withdrew his hands and promptly passed out. Kakashi caught him again, fearful as Iruka’s body curled in on itself, fins fluttering closed and tucking down, desperately seeking respite. Iruka’s heartbeat was faint but steady, soothing Kakashi’s spike of worry.

Itachi shifted, his clothes rustling. “Well, that’s one way of doing it.”

Kakashi felt himself grin awkwardly. “He just bought us a massive amount of time.  _ Shit. _ ” Carefully tucking Iruka back down, Kakashi shoved the cart through into the pitch-black room. To his surprise, the loading docks were completely silent and empty. He waited for a moment before proceeding, wondering if it was a trap.

“The sent out a call for all employees and personnel to head to the first floor,” Itachi supplied, somewhere behind him. “Because of the sensitive nature of our trade, they had to be thorough and bring in a third party, just in case it was an employee that caused the uproar.”

“Thorough enough to ignore the loading docks?” Kakashi shook his head. It was an oversight on SIRM’s behalf, but Kakashi didn’t plan on complaining. It was a major stroke of luck.

Itachi hummed. “It’s well known the dungeon is impenetrable. Escaping  _ from _ the dungeon, however…”

“Always a first for everything.” Kakashi pushed the cart to the right, familiar enough with the layout to know where the vans were parked. The slight glow of Iruka’s body helped. When the vans came into view, Kakashi let out a long, shuddering breath. Just a little longer and they would be out of SIRM and Iruka would be safe and in one piece. They would be okay.

Choosing a van at random, Kakashi opened the back and winced as the van’s lights flickered on, blinding him. He jumped inside and shoved out all the boxes of sanitary supplies, replacing them with the wet clothes off the cart. With Itachi’s help, they maneuvered Iruka inside the van and laid him down to rest. Kakashi dragged his lab coat over Iruka, hiding him from sight. He then dropped out and turned to Itachi, watching his face in the harsh light of the van. “I don’t suppose you’re coming with?”

“This is your problem, not mine,” Itachi said cryptically, raising a brow. At Kakashi’s silence, he sighed and stuck his hand into his pocket. “Wouldn’t you rather keep a pair of eyes on the inside in case a different Orochimaru comes a-callin’?”

It was Kakashi’s turn to arch an eyebrow. “You’d do that? Risky.”

“I’ve done this much, what’s a little more?” Itachi turned to leave and handed Kakashi a card with two fingers. Squinting, Kakashi could see it was a dry cleaning business card. He flipped it over and spotted an address scribbled on the back. He glanced up at Itachi.

“Get out of here before they realize you’re down here and lock the gates. Your merman won’t be able to save you then.” Spinning on his heel, Itachi stepped back into the darkness and disappeared.

Kakashi slipped the card into his pocket and shut the van’s doors.

  
  


The address was a few hours from the city, away from grasp of SIRM. 

Kakashi rubbed his cheek with an open palm, feeling stubble.

Chances were, if anyone from SIRM reached out to the police, they would be faced with revealing Iruka’s existence and revealing their true work. The higher-ups at SIRM would not approve the strategy, and Kakashi struggled to find solace in that. No, they would hire another agency to track them down and retrieve Iruka. He would need to ditch the van soon.

Turning off onto a gravel road, Kakashi followed it for a few miles, eyeing the trees that crowded around the path, kept at bay with a decrepit wooden fence. He pondered turning around, but where would he go? At this point, SIRM definitely knew he’d escaped with Iruka. They would be searching for him, raiding his home, breaking into his laptop and pinpointing his usual hangouts. It occurred to him that they wouldn’t find much, just evidence of a lonely hermit with no life. His neighbors knew nothing about him except his long work hours.

He’d never thought his lifestyle would work in his favor.

Craning his head back, Kakashi peeked at Iruka. The merman was curled into a small, tight ball, out cold. He hadn’t woken once, even when Kakashi had stopped at a gas station to load up on water. Several cases sat untouched, the others riddled with tiny holes to drip water continuously.

Kakashi hadn’t thought about what to do after they escaped SIRM, and it was primarily the reason he followed the address Itachi gave him. He didn’t have another option, not with Iruka’s life hanging in the balance. He didn’t fully trust Itachi, but the other scientist was his only ally. He made a right turn and coasted to a stop as the road widened and turned to crumbling pavement. 

Kakashi stared. 

He might not trust Itachi, but he had to give credit where credit was due.

The building was pastel blue where the paint remained, standing tall in zone of broken pavement, overgrown weeds, and dilapidated fencing. Faded images of aquatic animals lined the walls, beckoning Kakashi with cheery smiles and promises of fun.

This was arguably better than hiding Iruka in his bathroom.

The top of the building rose into the air like the bow of a ship, dazzling where the glass panes weren’t shattered. The name had long been eroded away, but Kakashi could make out ‘aquarium’ above the entrance and along the boxes for ticket sales. The other structures of the the aquarium’s campus suffered worse than the main building, having deteriorated into nothing but piles of concrete and rebar. 

Kakashi drove in cautiously, listening to the pop of gravel beneath the tires of the van. He half expected Itachi to appear from one of the doors and reveal his grand master plan and explain why he’d given Kakashi the address, but Kakashi didn’t hold his breath. It would be a while until he’d see Itachi again, especially if he’d been implicated in Kakashi’s escape.

Parking and shutting off his phone to preserve the tiny amount of battery it had left, Kakashi surveyed the area, feeling somewhat paranoid that SIRM had managed to follow him all the way here. Kakashi ambled over to the entrance, watching his weary reflection gaze back, ambivalent about staying. The tanks inside may be able to hold Iruka, but they would need a filtration system, as well as thousands of gallons of water. That is, if the tanks were in any condition to retain water, which Kakashi doubted would be the case. In theory, this was a good idea but— 

One of the remaining doors suddenly opened and tall figure dressed in a black robe stepped through, glaring at Kakashi. “Who are you? Where is Itachi?” His blue-tinged skin glistened wetly and thin, slit-like structures on his face flared as he bared his knife-like teeth.

Kakashi blinked, more pieces falling into place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens!  
> Kudos and comments make my office hours manageable :)


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